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Signs You’re In A Great Place To Raise Kids

When choosing your current city or town, quality schools, outdoor activities, and other benefits for your children might have topped your priority list. Or you could have balanced those priorities with other factors, like your career, your partner or spouse’s career, or proximity to your extended family. While finding a great place to raise kids can feel like a big undertaking, you’ll ultimately know and act upon what’s best for you and your family. Here are eight signs that prove you’ve made a great choice and found a great place to raise kids, too.

Access To Activities
Whether you live in a big city or a small town, your kids don’t seem bored. They have access to parks, community centers, children’s museums, libraries, and other public resources to learn, explore, and nurture their youthful curiosity.

Outdoor Space
In addition to a wealth of activities, your kids also have space outside where they can run and play independently or with other kids. This might be a park, a city sidewalk on a quiet street, a cul-de-sac, or even your own backyard. No matter where you find it, giving kids the space to use their imaginations promotes creativity and social skills.

High-Quality Schools
More than just prestigious rankings, good schools are created by the parents and faculty who support them. If the schools in your area have caring teachers and parents who make a point to stay involved in their children’s education, then you can probably expect a better school experience for your children — and more learning and enrichment opportunities in their future.

Cultural Amenities
Museums, theaters, playhouses, music venues, art and dance classes, and other cultural amenities can help foster curiosity and creativity in children. Whether your city or town has all of these items or just a few, exposing your kids to any of these experiences can be an enriching way to spend time with them, help them identify interests and talents, and expand their world view.
Welcoming Communities
Maybe you’ve been to your neighbor’s house for dinner, or maybe you’re on a first-name basis with the mailman and the barista at your local coffee shop. If you’re recognizing familiar faces around town, then you know you’ve chosen a welcoming place to call home and a great place to raise kids. Living in a friendly community will not only make it easier for your children to make friends, but it will also give you peace of mind that you could ask your neighbors for assistance if you or a family member should need it.

Walkability
Living in a city or town where you can walk to at least a few of the places that you frequent could mean that you’ll spend less time in the car and more time out and about with your kids. Bonus points if you can walk to work, or at least get there quickly! Less time driving to and from your daily grind means more family time on weekday mornings and evenings.

Eco-Friendly Thinking
If your city or town has clean water and air or is actively working to achieve that goal, that’s a big positive. Communities that create sustainable solutions to their needs and focus on improving environmental practices for a better future will be cleaner, healthier, more beautiful places to live as your children grow older and eventually raise the next generation.

Other Young Families
See a lot of families with young children around town? That’s a good sign that your kids will have plenty of playmates, and that local businesses and public resources are likely to accommodate them. In areas where a lot of young families have settled, public libraries stock children’s sections well, local parks build swings and play structures, restaurants offer a kid’s menu, and kid-friendly events and activities pop up frequently.