7 ms·

Since having kids I’ve been realising that a lot of the things in life that other people do, that have never made sense to me, suddenly make a whole lot more se

Since having kids I’ve been realising that a lot of the things in life that other people do, that have never made sense to me, suddenly make a whole lot more sense in the context of kids. With a kid, I’m suddenly super grateful for my little lawn.

Pfhreak 7y ago
Huh, interesting. I have a kid and I'm grateful we gave up our lawn. She plants in the spring, harvests, cooks, and preserves with us. She's excited to make pickles, jam, squash, pumpkins, corn, etc from things she's grown and tended to. She even got to pick out some of the flowers and make her own little square. Watching her step out to grab some blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries is one of the best feelings in the world. We read seed catalogs together in the winters and plan what we could grow (Ooh, what if we grew purple cauliflower? Or rhubarb for pie!)
- pbhjpbhj 7y ago
  Where does she play ball games, set up a paddling pool, and wrestle? I'd agree if you have a house big enough to have a playroom, and have open space close by, it's probably easy enough. Our lawn is kinda a tiny, tiny, wildflower meadow, ie it's not cut much. The bees love the Clover.
  - adrianN 7y ago
    When I was young we did those things in public parks. Except for the pool, we went to a public pool instead.
  - krageon 7y ago
    In what decadent universe is a pool expected or even necessary?
    - cowsandmilk 7y ago
      I suggest you google “paddling pool”. They are under $30 and for little kids. Not something decadent...
    - Sean1708 7y ago
      One where everyone has at least a fiver: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bestway-BW51009-Ocean-Paddling-Multi-Coloured/dp/B002CIKZ12/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=paddling+pool&qid=1578318674&sr=8-5 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bestway-BW51009-Ocean-Paddling-Mult...
  - astura 7y ago
    The park? That's where I did those activities as a kid.
  - alistairSH 7y ago
    Paddling pools and wrestling don't take a 1/5 acre lawn (not atypical suburban plot size). In my previous house, the back yard was heavily landscaped/hardscaped - patio, retaining wall, rocks and shrubs on the hill, etc. The front was lawn. Still plenty of room for my son to run around. And if he wanted more space, he went to the park around the corner. There's also a substantial difference between a "natural" lawn, where clover and other plants are allowed vs the stereotypical "perfect" lawn (in the US) with a single grass species (and heavy application of herbicides and fertilizers).
  - Pfhreak 7y ago
    Ball games are at the park. It's a short bike ride or moderate walk away. We have a small gravel area we set up the paddling pool in, and no reason one can't wrestle in between beds (or indoors on the carpet).
    - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
      Great for you, our house is small (for the UK), there's a shoulder width of space around the beds; a park with grass is too far for the little ones to walk and there's been a couple of stabbings locally which makes us a little reluctant to let them out. It's almost like sweeping statements such as "no one should have a lawn" need modifiers. ;o) I'd guess grass is still better environmentally than gravel; so long as you don't over tend it (and our mower was rescued from the dump). Have fun.
      - jlangemeier 7y ago
        I know this may sound callous; but if they're too young to go to the park unsupervised, are they actually in your yard unsupervised; especially if you're concerned about local crime? I'm not pushing one way or another honestly, it just seems like an odd qualifier unless your yard is extremely private and maintained in a way that there are 0 hazards as well.
- hinkley 7y ago
  Our youngest lamented the lack of a front lawn to lay on. But I honestly don't believe that between the damp and the dog walkers she would have actually done the activities she had in her head. You have to mow it. You have to mow it every week. You have to mow it every week even if you're tired, or sick, or it's hot, or it's cold, or it's rainy, or your friends are playing a game, or you had a sleepover. No excuses, no exceptions. You can't mow it too early in the morning, or too late in the evening. You can't stop halfway through and do the rest later (back yard/front yard perhaps, but not half of the front yard). The grass does not care what your reasons are. It just cares that you didn't mow it. If you don't, it punishes you. Sometimes the neighbors do, too. In theory they understand this, in practice there are plenty of other activities that result in a litany of renegotiations. Grass. Doesn't. Care.
philosopher1234 7y ago
Could you elaborate why that is?
- EdwardDiego 7y ago
  They can run around on it, play ball games with their mates, you can put down a slip 'n slide in the summer, there's room for a trampoline etc. etc.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    Also (I'm guessing) room for barbecue parties and such - generally facilitating socialization with other families with children.
    - Pfhreak 7y ago
      Many of our raised beds have a piece of flat wood on one side that serves as a bench. In the summer we'll host garden parties and people will socialize among the flowers and veggies. The delight people have picking tomatoes, peas, berries, beans, corn, and other things for their meal is real.
  - jiofih 7y ago
    Those are all choices, plus you don’t need to turn the entire backyard into a forest.
  - ginko 7y ago
    I'd guess you could do all of this on a meadow as well.
    - Sean1708 7y ago
      What's the difference between a meadow and a lawn? In relation to the article that is, obviously I could tell the difference between a meadow and a lawn. Edit: To add a bit of context here a lot of people are talking about pesticides and fertilizer and stuff like that but we don't do anything like that, we just mow it when it gets a bit long. Does that mean our lawn is technically a meadow?
elric 7y ago
When I was a kid, our (huge) back yard was more orchard than yard. It had at least 30 fruit trees, including cherry, apple, pear, peach and plum. There were hazelnuts, brambles and raspberries. Next to that was a patch of land with all kinds of produce. I loved playing in that yard. It had great places to hide. Ample trees to climb. Wildlife to look for and learn about. A variety of fun tasks to perform, from picking fruit and berries to making jam and juice. When my younger brother turned 10, our parents decided that he had to play football. Almost all of the trees were felled. Everything I loved about that place was destroyed, and replaced by one, big, boring, lifeless lawn. Instead of fun tasks, I was thenceforth assigned the task of mowing the lawn. Which I resented and continue to detest to this day.
- thaumasiotes 7y ago
  It took me many years to realize that nearly everything in my grandmother's back yard (except the lawn and porch) was food. There were orange trees, a cherry tree, an avocado tree, garlic, and a raspberry bramble. I loved picking raspberries. There was a pomegranate tree in the front. A garden is always going to be better than a lawn. A garden of plants that grow faster than trees may be higher-maintenance, though.
- biztos 7y ago
  Wow, crazy. I grew up with a modest lawn (with two trees, one smack in the middle of each side of the lawn) and my best friend had a really big yard on a slope with a bunch of apple trees. Playing in his yard was way more fun.
FooHentai 7y ago
You made me think back over my childhood which was pretty idyllic in terms of outside time and non-supervision. You know, lawns were simply not a major factor in that, outside of perhaps once-in-a-year water gun fights with some neighbor kids, the wilderness held far more appeal. Back-lot tracks, untilled fields, marginal scrubland running along stream beds. That was where the majority of my 'green time' took place. I do remember a few families around the village that had completely unkept, wilderness yards. They provided far more entertainment than any with manicured lawns.
floatingatoll 7y ago
We had a front lawn, a back lawn, and a dog. The back lawn may as well have been a concrete slab for playing purposes due to the statistical likelihood of dog. The front lawn was exposed to all the neighbors and thus similarly unusable for a social anxiety kid. Would have given up that lawn in a heartbeat for wilderness, which I spent years hiking and exploring.

Pfhreak 7y ago

Huh, interesting. I have a kid and I'm grateful we gave up our lawn. She plants in the spring, harvests, cooks, and preserves with us. She's excited to make pickles, jam, squash, pumpkins, corn, etc from things she's grown and tended to. She even got to pick out some of the flowers and make her own little square. Watching her step out to grab some blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries is one of the best feelings in the world. We read seed catalogs together in the winters and plan what we could grow (Ooh, what if we grew purple cauliflower? Or rhubarb for pie!)

pbhjpbhj 7y ago
Where does she play ball games, set up a paddling pool, and wrestle? I'd agree if you have a house big enough to have a playroom, and have open space close by, it's probably easy enough. Our lawn is kinda a tiny, tiny, wildflower meadow, ie it's not cut much. The bees love the Clover.
- adrianN 7y ago
  When I was young we did those things in public parks. Except for the pool, we went to a public pool instead.
- krageon 7y ago
  In what decadent universe is a pool expected or even necessary?
  - cowsandmilk 7y ago
    I suggest you google “paddling pool”. They are under $30 and for little kids. Not something decadent...
  - Sean1708 7y ago
    One where everyone has at least a fiver: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bestway-BW51009-Ocean-Paddling-Multi-Coloured/dp/B002CIKZ12/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=paddling+pool&qid=1578318674&sr=8-5 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bestway-BW51009-Ocean-Paddling-Mult...
- astura 7y ago
  The park? That's where I did those activities as a kid.
- alistairSH 7y ago
  Paddling pools and wrestling don't take a 1/5 acre lawn (not atypical suburban plot size). In my previous house, the back yard was heavily landscaped/hardscaped - patio, retaining wall, rocks and shrubs on the hill, etc. The front was lawn. Still plenty of room for my son to run around. And if he wanted more space, he went to the park around the corner. There's also a substantial difference between a "natural" lawn, where clover and other plants are allowed vs the stereotypical "perfect" lawn (in the US) with a single grass species (and heavy application of herbicides and fertilizers).
- Pfhreak 7y ago
  Ball games are at the park. It's a short bike ride or moderate walk away. We have a small gravel area we set up the paddling pool in, and no reason one can't wrestle in between beds (or indoors on the carpet).
  - pbhjpbhj 7y ago
    Great for you, our house is small (for the UK), there's a shoulder width of space around the beds; a park with grass is too far for the little ones to walk and there's been a couple of stabbings locally which makes us a little reluctant to let them out. It's almost like sweeping statements such as "no one should have a lawn" need modifiers. ;o) I'd guess grass is still better environmentally than gravel; so long as you don't over tend it (and our mower was rescued from the dump). Have fun.
    - jlangemeier 7y ago
      I know this may sound callous; but if they're too young to go to the park unsupervised, are they actually in your yard unsupervised; especially if you're concerned about local crime? I'm not pushing one way or another honestly, it just seems like an odd qualifier unless your yard is extremely private and maintained in a way that there are 0 hazards as well.
hinkley 7y ago
Our youngest lamented the lack of a front lawn to lay on. But I honestly don't believe that between the damp and the dog walkers she would have actually done the activities she had in her head. You have to mow it. You have to mow it every week. You have to mow it every week even if you're tired, or sick, or it's hot, or it's cold, or it's rainy, or your friends are playing a game, or you had a sleepover. No excuses, no exceptions. You can't mow it too early in the morning, or too late in the evening. You can't stop halfway through and do the rest later (back yard/front yard perhaps, but not half of the front yard). The grass does not care what your reasons are. It just cares that you didn't mow it. If you don't, it punishes you. Sometimes the neighbors do, too. In theory they understand this, in practice there are plenty of other activities that result in a litany of renegotiations. Grass. Doesn't. Care.

philosopher1234 7y ago

Could you elaborate why that is?

EdwardDiego 7y ago
They can run around on it, play ball games with their mates, you can put down a slip 'n slide in the summer, there's room for a trampoline etc. etc.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- TeMPOraL 7y ago
  Also (I'm guessing) room for barbecue parties and such - generally facilitating socialization with other families with children.
  - Pfhreak 7y ago
    Many of our raised beds have a piece of flat wood on one side that serves as a bench. In the summer we'll host garden parties and people will socialize among the flowers and veggies. The delight people have picking tomatoes, peas, berries, beans, corn, and other things for their meal is real.
- jiofih 7y ago
  Those are all choices, plus you don’t need to turn the entire backyard into a forest.
- ginko 7y ago
  I'd guess you could do all of this on a meadow as well.
  - Sean1708 7y ago
    What's the difference between a meadow and a lawn? In relation to the article that is, obviously I could tell the difference between a meadow and a lawn. Edit: To add a bit of context here a lot of people are talking about pesticides and fertilizer and stuff like that but we don't do anything like that, we just mow it when it gets a bit long. Does that mean our lawn is technically a meadow?

elric 7y ago

When I was a kid, our (huge) back yard was more orchard than yard. It had at least 30 fruit trees, including cherry, apple, pear, peach and plum. There were hazelnuts, brambles and raspberries. Next to that was a patch of land with all kinds of produce. I loved playing in that yard. It had great places to hide. Ample trees to climb. Wildlife to look for and learn about. A variety of fun tasks to perform, from picking fruit and berries to making jam and juice. When my younger brother turned 10, our parents decided that he had to play football. Almost all of the trees were felled. Everything I loved about that place was destroyed, and replaced by one, big, boring, lifeless lawn. Instead of fun tasks, I was thenceforth assigned the task of mowing the lawn. Which I resented and continue to detest to this day.

thaumasiotes 7y ago
It took me many years to realize that nearly everything in my grandmother's back yard (except the lawn and porch) was food. There were orange trees, a cherry tree, an avocado tree, garlic, and a raspberry bramble. I loved picking raspberries. There was a pomegranate tree in the front. A garden is always going to be better than a lawn. A garden of plants that grow faster than trees may be higher-maintenance, though.
biztos 7y ago
Wow, crazy. I grew up with a modest lawn (with two trees, one smack in the middle of each side of the lawn) and my best friend had a really big yard on a slope with a bunch of apple trees. Playing in his yard was way more fun.

FooHentai 7y ago

You made me think back over my childhood which was pretty idyllic in terms of outside time and non-supervision. You know, lawns were simply not a major factor in that, outside of perhaps once-in-a-year water gun fights with some neighbor kids, the wilderness held far more appeal. Back-lot tracks, untilled fields, marginal scrubland running along stream beds. That was where the majority of my 'green time' took place. I do remember a few families around the village that had completely unkept, wilderness yards. They provided far more entertainment than any with manicured lawns.

floatingatoll 7y ago

We had a front lawn, a back lawn, and a dog. The back lawn may as well have been a concrete slab for playing purposes due to the statistical likelihood of dog. The front lawn was exposed to all the neighbors and thus similarly unusable for a social anxiety kid. Would have given up that lawn in a heartbeat for wilderness, which I spent years hiking and exploring.