Neighborhood or country setting -- which would you choose to live in?

[mama2cntrykids]

We moved to our current house in June. It was between this house, in the country, on almost 6 acres, and a house in town. We obviously chose the country :). I love living here and I love not having neighbors and being able to have a big garden (next summer) and animals. I love the fact that the kids can run and play and I don't have to worry about it.

 

The down side? The nearest "town" is 10 mins away and it's really small (pop. 2,000). If we want to go to a Walmart or anything, it's 35-40 min drive. There aren't any extra curricular stuff out here for the kids. Again, we have to drive. It's going to be A LOT of driving living out here. Also, no high speed internet. I can live without it, but it would be nice. In fact, I've never even had it, lol. We came from a house that had 2.5 acres and was only 8 min or so from a town of 6,000. It had a Walmart, lots of activities for the kids and all their friends (and mine!). It was very ideal. We moved because my dh couldn't find a job in that area after looking for a year. He was gone all week living with friends and working. We only saw him on the weekends, so we sold our house and moved. Again, not ideal!

 

Anyway...when it comes down to it, the driving IS a pain in the butt, BUT, I **LOVE** living in the country. So, to me, it's worth it (usually, lol). How's that for a round-about, long-winded answer ;)?

[AuntieM]

I vote for country, but still convenient to necessities. That is where we'd like to be eventually. I really do not like neighborhood living.

 

I'm sorry your son is having such a hard time... kids can be SO rotten!

 

I personally would like to live in a quaint township close-to-the-town-square-and-neighbors setting. But not until my kids are old enough for the neighbor kids not to ring the doorbell. We have nice neighbors (typical suburban setting) but there's one in particular that I can't let dd play with unless I am there to supervise. I hate to always say no, xx can't play right now, but I can't always drop what I'm doing at the moment. I'm convinced the neighbor mom sends her over to ask if dd can play to get her out of the house while that mom fixes dinner. Well, guess what I'm doing at the same time????

[sassenach]

Neighborhood. We lived in the country and hated it. We were all lonely. We have had fantastic luck with neighborhoods. We live in one now that is incredibly family friendly. We're surrounded by kids that match mine in age and they are all from families who are mindful in their parenting. We have a creek, trails, parks and a community center/pool all within 1/2m from our home.