Treehouse Village parents weigh in

When I decided to write a blog post to share my family’s thought process on moving to a cohousing community, I thought it would be interesting to hear from other families who are part of this project. I asked some TVE members with kids, “What was the clincher for you in deciding TVE was where you wanted to raise your child(ren)?” 

Four families, equity households in the TVE project, weighed in. 

Here are some highlights from what they had to say:

As someone who doesn’t want a second child but considers my sister to be my best friend, I love the idea of my son having a cohort of children that he will grow up with, including older kids that he can look up to and learn from and little ones that he can take under his wing.

I strongly believe that all of our parental loads will be lightened if we can do little things for each other like sharing the school run or occasionally feeding other people’s children.

~Caitlin

Free range children able to roam around the whole place and not having to worry about traffic, we currently live in a busy congested city.

~Mark

Our daughter can’t go out on her own where we live and the organisation it takes to link her up with her friends is so difficult. Not what I had when I was growing up. I want her out in the forest with a bunch of kids she knows. TVE offers a ready made and like minded community and we feel very lucky to have the opportunity to join up. 

~Mandy

For our family, the more we learn about cohousing, the more opportunities TVE offers to live lighter, healthier lives with the help of our neighbours.

Love the idea of opening our door and having acres of forest and gardens to free range, while being surrounded by neighbours of all ages to learn and play with.

If all our members are coming together with the intention to model a ‘joyful, environmentally responsible, healthy, multi-age cohousing community,’ then what better place to raise my family?

~Emma

Even though we have tremendously supportive family and friends, we lacked the “at your doorstep” neighbourhood. Neighbours that live close enough that we could share child care on a snow day, or hold their baby while they take an important call, or send our teen down the street to a friend’s house without driving them there. We sought the kind of neighbourhood that allows for spontaneous interaction, where playdates don’t have to be planned, and the burdens of isolated, independent parenting are alleviated. 

We look forward to parenting in a place where there are neighbours we trust and can learn from, as we share the challenges and joys of raising children in a village.

~Cate & Leon

Feature image taken by Susan Harvie at Treehouse Village land in Bridgewater during an event on the land.