There is no bond quite like family, and maintaining family relations can only positively serve you throughout your life. Choosing where you raise your family can contribute to how well your relatives’ lives become and can shape children as individuals as they grow. Although there is a massive debate around “nature vs nurture”, there is almost no denying that environment plays a huge part in our development as people.
Community
As well as having relationships with family members, expanding social circles to the wider community can help enrich the lives of all individuals in the family. Surrounding yourselves with other like-minded, family-orientated people in master-planned community living is important in building long-term relationships and trust with other people. These kinds of communities look after one another and boast a variety of amenities and resources to enrich you and your family’s lives.
Safety
Home is meant to be a place where you feel safe and secure. Living in a neighbourhood with low crime rates and a good community is crucial in allowing not just your children, but the whole family, to have the freedom to walk around, play and socialise in an area. This can take tension off all individuals in a family, knowing everyone is safe and not at risk of being hurt, allowing trust between everyone to make good choices when it comes to venturing away from home by themselves.
Variety Of Amenities
Living in an area with some good amenities can help nourish the family. Whilst we can gain a lot of fulfilment from exploring in nature and living on the land, we live in a time where a lot of pleasure can be derived from eating in restaurants, watching movies at the cinema, and picking up a hobby and learning skills at a recreation centre. Having amenities like grocery stores close by can also be convenient for the family, in cases like you need to pop by to pick up some extra vegetables to provide a nourishing meal for dinner.
Schools and Friends
Selecting a good school for your children is necessary to ensure their social skills and education become well-developed. You can not always control who is around your children, but you can choose where you raise them and which school they go to. Children internalise ideas they are presented with at an early stage, which shapes their beliefs and personality, so selecting an area to live that generally follows the same morals and ideologies that you want your children raised with is important.
Accessibility
As children grow, they become more independent. They value their freedom because they want to exist outside of a family and school environment to mature and develop their own set of beliefs and values. Choosing an area to live that has good transport links is great to allow children to travel around independently without relying on transportation from a parent. This can help them grow their confidence in navigating the world and making choices for themselves. Looking for buses, trains or even a good bike network in an area can give them this opportunity.
Activities
Ensuring you have enough things for you and your family to do can be very important. The area you choose to raise your family can dictate what kinds of activities are available that you can take part in. Having a hobby that the family can enjoy together is a great way to spend time together and look forward to. Whether it is swimming at a local recreation centre, hiking along nearby trails, or playing tennis on tennis courts – it is good to have a variety of things available so everyone can have a choice in their hobbies.
Proximity To Wider Family
As well as parents and siblings, being within a good distance of other relatives is important for building relationships with them too. Building a solid support network and having a variety of personalities surrounding you can only help you diversify your knowledge and beliefs, as well as aiding in the increase of an individual’s general well-being. Not to mention that having a free babysitter now and again is always handy!
Cost Of Living
Determining whether an area aligns with your ability to keep up with the cost of living can have a major impact on your and your family. You need to consider the prices of groceries, activities, fuel, bills, mortgages, public transport and, on top of that, inflation. If you’re living in an area where it is difficult to get by each month because you are living in a costly neighbourhood, then this can become stressful and put tension on the family. Ideally, you can select a city or area that is affordable but meets most of your other requirements – which is easier said that done. It might just take a bit of extra time and research before you find the right place.
Job Opportunities
Moving somewhere where there are a variety of jobs that growing children can take on can be very beneficial for the family. A job for a teenager can show them early on how taxes work, how to be confident in interviews and the importance of working hard. For you, as a parent, the option of moving jobs can be more important than you might think. Even if you feel secure in your job at the moment, things can happen in life that are outside your control that may cause you to lose that job. If you are aware of the job opportunities out there, you can further your career or, if you need to, simply meet the financial needs of your family.
Overall, choosing where you raise your family can have a variety of implications in the future. Your children’s lives can be shaped dramatically by the schools and friends they’re surrounded by, as well as their ability to become independent as they travel and find jobs. As parents, it’s crucial to be surrounded by a healthy support network too, and feel safe in your neighbourhood and secure financially.
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