“Come see what I built!”
It was an invitation from my then almost-9-year-old son to visit the space he had built for himself to ‘get away from it all’. He led me carefully through one of the many patches of undergrowth near our little cabin, thick with salmon berries just starting to bud with bright green leaves (and sticky thorns). Then we came upon it – a tiny little hut, built with intricate layers of windfall branches and ferns, its entrance hidden by a particularly dense spray of hemlock.
“It’s where I can lie and listen to the sounds of the forest, and the songs of the birds.”
And right then I knew my decision to leave our city life behind was the right one.
Our Journey from Subdivision to Townhouse to Log Cabin in the Woods
I always thought I’d move out of the city when I children joined my life. I just didn’t realize what a huge difference it would make to my son – or myself.
I grew up in a rural community – in a subdivision, mind you, but in a district where only 20,000 people lived along a narrow strip of land stretching 70 miles along the rocky coast. Bears visited our backyard regularly, and we spent our weekends in the mountains, exploring abandoned logging camps and old First Nations villages, hiking to extinct volcanic craters, and riding dirt bikes in the empty lots down the street. We learned all the native edible and medicinal plants, the names of all the trees towering above, and which wild birds like which sorts of native berries. We fished, rode motorbikes, and got dirty. In other words, we spent most of our waking hours outside.
When my son was born in 2003 and we ended up in a townhouse on a busy road in the city, all those amazing childhood experiences came flooding back – and I realized, sadly, that his life was going to be very different. His school days would be interrupted by sirens and construction projects, he’d have to sidestep doggy doo (and other nasties) every time he went for a walk in the forest, and he’d never really know the joys of silence. For his own memories’ sake, I wanted him to know a summer day where all you can hear is crickets, the rustling of the wind in dry, tall grass, and the distant hum of a float plane buzzing to some far flung island. The chance of experiencing any of that living in a townhouse? Nada.
I loved so many things about our city, nestled between sea and mountain, but getting my little guy out into ‘nature’ was an more of an effort than I was able to pull off most days. During my maternity leave, we’d hop on the bus and spend our days in the forest (with him on my back in a carrier) but once I went back to work, there just never seemed to be enough time. Moving closer to the nature was out of the question – real estate in our part of the world is crazy at best – the average home price at the time was somewhere around $800K. Decent townhouses closer to the forest on a quiet street? About $600K. So it was either noisy townhouse or the alternative – moving – and I struggled with it every single day.
It was when he got a little older and I’d find him entranced by the comings and goings of ants and wood bugs that I decided that this child was born to be in the country. He just oozed it. His first word wasn’t ‘cat’ or ‘juice’, but ‘moon’. So I started planning for a very different life… a life somewhere quieter where he could become who he was meant to be, without distraction.
Now, we could have moved anywhere, but it was important that my guy be close to his grandparents. In other words, our choice was pretty simple – we moved back to my hometown, only a 40 minute ferry ride, but what felt like a world, away. It was 2008, and I had no idea how I was going to make it work, but I’d been building my skill set for years and studying everything I could get my hands on that had anything to do with rural living, homesteading and the transition from city to country living. Was I terrified? Um… yeah. But terror slowly turned to ‘I can do this!’, and we never looked back.
So here we are, just over 4 years later, well ensconced into a new/old life in the forest. My son attends a Waldorf School surrounded by trees and streams, and right across a quiet country road from the beach. He gets to see his grandparents pretty much every day – something I never experienced in my own childhood – and spends his non-school time listening to the wind in the trees, collecting and studying bugs and other critters, and communing with our flock of 20 chickens (17 hens and three roosters, to be exact). And now that we’ve been here awhile, the benefits of the move are becoming clearer every single day.
The Benefits
First off, please know that I’m no child development expert and I can’t tell you conclusively that living in the country is any ‘better’ than living in the city, as they both clearly have their pros and cons, but there are a few things I’ve observed over the past 4 years that I think are worth noting:
- Room to Run – This one goes without saying. Children need to move and run and stretch their limbs in order for their physical and mental capacities to develop in a healthy way, and that’s pretty difficult in a 1000 square foot apartment with a tiny rooftop deck. They don’t need a lot of space, but the simple joy of being able to move freely when the impulse strikes is a real treat to watch. If my son wants to run across the yard on all fours, he can do that – without crashing into anything or stepping into anyone else’s space (but chicken poop, maybe).
- Quiet for the Imagination – A big reason why we decided on Waldorf Education, and moved to a rural community, was this – the preservation, and development of, my child’s imagination. Not that imagination can’t develop in the city, of course – some of our most brilliant people were raised in urban environments – but there’s something about quiet, being in nature, that just invites creative thinking and problem-solving, especially for children who are sensitive. With the challenges we’re facing in the world, we need creative people, unencumbered by rigid or stunted thought processes and the distraction of 24/7 noise.
- Exposure to the Natural World – As you know, our planet is in somewhat of a crisis on the environmental front. Species extinctions, systemic pollution, habitat loss… our children need to be connected to the natural world now more than ever. If they don’t feel like they’re a part of the world around them, how can we expect them to care about it? So your child spending quiet, extended time in nature benefits us all, and will for generations. I simply can’t see how my son would care anywhere near as much about the creatures of the world and its natural systems as he does if he didn’t get to see and feel and touch them every day.
- No Billboards or In-Your-Face Marketing – This one is HUGE for me – there simply isn’t anywhere near the bombardment of visual marketing as there is in the city, where every surface is covered with images talking our children into ‘needing’ things they don’t really need at all, and doing things they really have no business doing. Think about the effects of mainstream media and marketing on children, and then imagine what it would be like to not have that in your child’s face every day. It’s liberating, and so much better because kids are left alone to be just that – kids.
- Time to be Together – I’m blessed to work from home, and I’m incredibly busy with my business, but I’m able to spend a lot more time with my son than I did when we lived in the city and I worked in an office, mostly by nature of the fact that we aren’t spending hours in traffic every day, nor are we signed up for umpteen lessons and activities. It’s been incredibly freeing, and rewarding, to be able to spend time with him – even when I’m working and serving clients and he’s just hanging out with the chickens or drawing pictures of trolls and eagles. Child development expert Gordon Neufeld talks extensively about the importance of children being ‘attached’ to their caregivers and not their peers – it’s much easier to do this when you can actually spend a lot of time together.
Of course, as with anything worth exploring, there are downsides, but in our experience, the great things that have come from our move out of the city far outweigh the negatives, which are, well, pretty much non-existent. Sure sometimes it’s a struggle to get everything done, the power goes out a lot, and we don’t have any neighbours at all, let alone with children, so spontaneous play with other kids is sort of out of the question, but even with all that, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I’ll let Jonah wrap it up: Why I Like Living in the Country
Are you planning a move to the country with your children? Do you have any concerns or worries? If so, leave us a comment on the blog or on Facebook to hear from others who’ve made the move and are loving it… it’s a super supportive group and we love sharing what we’ve learned. See you there!
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Victoria, thanks for sharing your thoughts. My wife, two kids and I live in a subdivision, but it is out of city limits. We love being at least close to the country. We especially want our kids to be exposed to nature as well. Our situation has still been great because we are close to that as well as neighbors for our daughters to be friends with. We are grateful to be here.
I found this an interesting read as we just purchased an 11 acre, 150 year old home in the country after living in both a large city (T.O.) with a stop in suburbia. We are so excited to raise our children (we have 4 girls aged 2-7) amongst nature and with ample space to run, explore and imagine. We try to raise our children within a more simple lifestyle, but the lines often get blurred. It took us years to get to the point that we are Athol- making he move, and are hoping and praying that we have made the best choice for our family! Thank you for writing the article…wish us luck!
Melissa E
Hi Melissa,
My partner and I are 28, no kids, thinking about moving out in the country. I am nervous because country living is very new for the both of us and my partner actually would still have to return to Toronto from time to time for his work which would mean that I would be alone in our country home alone. I am nervous because in the coming years I want to start a family and I would not have much support around. We would be love 3+ hours from our friends and family.
My question for you is, did you find that it was relatively easier for you to make friends out in the country? Is there any more insight you would want to share? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Hello! Thanks so much for your question and my apologies for taking so long to respond. I definitely hear your concerns. Meeting folks was fairly easy here with my son’s small private school – sort of throws everyone together who had a lot of like interests and parenting ideals. So no, I didn’t find that part difficult. That said, I’m someone who loves time on my own – if I had had more than one child, or was someone who enjoyed social events more, it might have been more of a challenge. Plus my parents were here, so I always felt like I had support. Not sure how helpful that is, but having a support system is definitely important unless you’re one of those folks who loves doing everything on your own (which isn’t a whole lot of us). Wishing you all the best!
I love your blog! I grew up in the country. I could never imagine myself anywhere but here. I live about 50 miles south of Houston Tx and can drive to shopping and entertainment when I feel the need, but am always happy to get back home to the simpler things in life. We just started a blog on our new site http://www.ranchandfarmlands and I would love to post some of your content on our site. Would this be okay with you?
Thanks so much,
Debby Jurasek
My 5, nearly 6 year old son has older, high-schools aged brothers, so on some circumstances, he’s an only child. All of our kids are homeschooled, active in community theater and our local church.
He just made several friends in our subdivision, kids that he rides bikes and hangs out with nearly every day.
Now we’re planning a move from our nearly urban neighborhood to a home in the country with very few neighbors even within shouting distance. Nobody to ride bikes with. We’ll, nowhere to even ride bikes. And hundreds of acres of empty land. We’ll be 15 minutes from town, stores, etc.
We’re concerned this move may harm our son, that he could lose what he enjoys, friends.
We have 2 digs, 2 cats, and are planning on getting rabbits, birds, chickens and goats.We’re going to get a 4-wheeler.
He has an amazing imagination and is very creative. But he gets lonely easily.
Your thoughts?
Thanks so much for your question, Rebecca. I had the same concerns for my guy when his little school closed up after Grade 5. I passed along your question to him and he did a little video for you… 🙂 Do you have a Facebook account? If so, it’s there (posted Friday, June 30). I’m going to update this post as well this week to include it. Hopefully it’s helpful… 🙂
Well first off, what child needs it to be quiet for their imagination to flourish? I mean I lived in the city I’ve whole life, and my imagination was, and still is huge, and my problem solving skills have always been very well developed. Also, I would like to see some sources and statistics to support the “quiet= problem-solving” bit.
Secondly, you will be surprised by the amount of nature you can find in cities. This includes seeing different types of animals, ranging from foxes and coyotes to many types of bird species. And the amount of natural parks and forests are quite astounding for some cities too. And how is spending time together a reason for raising children in the country side. Don’t most families who live in the city do that too.
Not to forget that average, children who are raised in the city both have better grades, and are less likely to have teenage sex, resulting in teenage pregnancies statically.
We all have different paths, and each child needs different environments to thrive. That’s our job as parents – to figure out what that optimal environment is. We have the best of both worlds, but others find they thrive in totally rural environments. Since this blog is about rural living, that was the focus of this post – for people who are thinking of moving to a rural area. It’s a very personal and individual choice. If the city works for you and your children, that’s great. As for the statistics on teen pregnancy… again, if that’s something you think will affect your family, then obviously you need to take that into consideration. Thanks for your comments – but keep in mind this post was for folks who are considering moving to the country – no need to take it as a diss for other choices. Respect to all of our individual decisions.
Hi there, we have lived in a subdivision for ten years. Our children are 6, 11 and 13. They all have friends on the street and our 13 and 11 year old enjoy some freedom to ride their bikes in our neighbourhood with their friends and to walk to their houses to play. We recently put an offer on a house that is in the country- but actually only a 5 min drive away. Unfortunately- the kids could not ride their bikes to friends because it would require riding on the shoulder of busy roads. My husband and I feel torn. We have always wanted property and to be a little removed but our kids have only known. Subdivision and want to keep proximity to their friends. Especially our son who finds the prospect of a move devastating because he would no longer be part of the almost daily basketball game etc. And there would be no more walking or riding bikes to school. Our house deal is not yet confirmed and we would love some insight.
Thanks so much for your question! Being that my son never really enjoyed being with big groups of kids, I don’t have much experience to pull from, but if you’re OK with it, I’d love to post it (without your name) in the FB group and see what folks come up with. Lots of fabulous experienced folks there… 🙂 Let me know if that’s OK.
That would be great
Excellent – I’ll post it Sunday at 6PM Pacific. I find that’s when we’ve got the highest readership. Will post back here what folks say – or if you’re on FB, check in at facebook.com/modernhomesteading.
HI there – just checking to see if you were able to catch that post I mentioned back on September 16. If not, let me know and I’ll dig up the responses. Most were very much ‘do it – you won’t regret it and the children will adapt and look back at the time fondly’, but there was lots of good feedback.