To ask you what the area you live in is actually like?

[Lilypad789]

I have young children (8,9) I do not allow them to play out with friends yet as this would usually entail crossing a busy road. So I walk them to the park, sometimes arranging to meet a school friend etc. I sometimes stay and scroll my phone for a bit and watch from a distance while they play or occasionally I will do a small 10 minute walk and circle back round before watching them for a while.

Even if I (and more adults sometimes) are sat watching our kids most of the other kids are awful and it’s so depressing. Swearing snd screaming and just being absolutely stupid. I dread to think what they’re like if there's no adults there to be honest. I don’t want mine around it anymore (not naive, 100% know they would join in a bit but my youngest has moved away from them before because she doesn’t like it and they’re her school friends!) and I’m considering moving house. We do live in an underprivileged area but to be honest in the villages and towns around us I can’t imagine it being any different.

What is it like where you live? Other countries / counties.

At this point I’m considering the Highlands!

Former mining/industrial town in the northwest. Lots of terraced houses, some areas a bit down trodden but surrounded by some leafy suburbs and some stunningly beautiful scenery.

I live in a very small town in Somerset. It’s very safe here - the kind of place where you don’t need to lock your doors, you very rarely hear of crimes and kids can meet up with their friends at the park, or go swimming in the river in the summer, and when they get a bit older there’s a train station from here that takes them to bigger towns and cities. I’m a keep myself to myself kind of person but there is also a lovely community and a surprising amount going on for such a small place. Excellent schools too.

We moved 18 months ago to a semi rural, low crime area only to find since moving that approval has been given for social housing that will house recently released criminals that aren’t allowed to return to their inner London areas. There are nasty people everywhere.

I live in the suburb of a northern city and it is nothing like that. A range of ages play in the park and the teenagers are all polite. It is an expensive / middle class area overall but to be honest even when we’ve gone to other areas or a city centre park /soft play in normally surprised about how nice the kids are eg older ones showing mine how to use the skate ramps or complementing on their football skills

Village (c.3000 population) in Derbyshire. Love it here. Close to the M1, easy to get into Derby and Nottingham, lovely countryside walks, but good facilities and a great community. There’s some idiot kids, but it’s largely a good area to bring up a family.

A city on the coast south of London. We've got annoying youths here of course, and too many cars and not enough green space, but overall we love it! Feels very safe generally.

Chester. It’s not perfect but it’s been a good place to raise my boys. All went to an excellent school which I cannot deny demographically is catchment for more advantaged children

it’s a pretty, small city, not much culture but I’ve never worried about their safety. A lovely river, semi forested walks within the city, they all had a lot of sporting opportunities and clubs
Close enough to the Wirral and north Wales for countryside, beaches and lots of big walks.
Also very easy to get to Liverpool when they got to teenage years and wanted big town shops etc with their mates
im from Liverpool and all my immediate family live on the Wirral so that helps

I’m North Somerset. Nailsea. I love it! Got to love Somerset ❤️

We're in a village in South Cambridgeshire. The kids are lovely. The teenage boys playing football recently let my 3 year old score a goal against them while we were walking past. They don't nick stuff from the village shop and put their change in the charity box. The behavioural issues at school are so minor that my mum (a retired school teacher who spent most of her career in Burnley) reads the school newsletter and laughs.

It's an absolute bubble of privilege, I worry I'm raising kids who are going to get swallowed whole and spat out when they eventually enter the real world. But given they are 7 and 3 I just enjoy it for now. I can figure out how to help them become streetwise later.