Category: Kids-teens


The Benefits of Growing Up In Community

Submitted by Abby Braithwaite, Cathedral Park Cohousing on
Photo by MI PHAM
Growing up in Community There are so many reasons why cohousing is good for your health, and good for the planet. It’s also great for families! So often in this culture we live separate from people who are in different phases of life. But there is a lot to be learned on all sides when... Read Mo
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Kids and Seniors make great community

Submitted by Karen Gimnig on
For most families it is easy to imagine the benefits of sharing a cohousing community with other families with kids the same age. Naturally the kids will play together, the parents will have peers moving through the same stages together, and carpooling to activities is likely. I want to take a moment to write about... Read More

Foster Parenting in Cohousing

Submitted by Laura Fitch on
This story was written in 2003 and first published in David Wann’s book Reinventing Community: Stories from the Walkways of Cohousing. We are republishing it here with permission because it is such a great example of how cohousing communities nurture and support beyond the community itself. We’ve been living with foster children in our house... Read More

Interdependent Community Makes For a Secure Childhood

Submitted by Bryan Bowen, Wild Sage (Boulder CO) on
In 2000, Bryan Bowen was part of a team of architects working to design Wild Sage, a cohousing community of 34 townhouses in Boulder, Colorado….By the time Wild Sage was completed 12 years ago, Bryan and his wife, Dale Deegan, then pregnant with their first son, Eli, were among the residents moving in. Eli’s younger... Read More

What’s it Like to Grow Up in Cohousing? Fairies and Friendship

Submitted by Ava, age 147 months (134 of them in cohousing) on
One of my favorite pastimes is to build fairy houses in the woods with my friend Ally. We design and build houses out of materials we find in the woods- like pine cones and bark. We’ve become rather skilled at it and have been working on a mini cohousing village called Redwood Village. It is... Read More

What’s it Like to Grow Up in Cohousing? The positives in breaking an arm

Submitted by Ava, age 145 months (132 of them in cohousing) on
Most people would think that there are no positives in breaking an arm. In cohousing, the decision is more complex. When I was eight years old, I was having a swinging contest with my neighbor Kaden. I must confess it wasn’t just a swinging contest. It was a jumping off of swings contest. Kaden and... Read More

What’s it Like to Grow Up in Cohousing?

Submitted by Ava on
I’ve lived in cohousing for all I can remember- nearly my whole life! When I was 13 months old my family moved into the friendly community that surrounds our everyday lives. When I meet people interested in cohousing, they all ask what it’s like to grow up here. So many people ask that one question–... Read More

Kids in Cohousing

Submitted by Kathryn McCamant on
Sitting on the back deck, summer evening, listening to the birds in the swale, kids in the pool, sunlight fading… It seems to me that living in cohousing is pretty much kid paradise. “Our” kids at Nevada City Cohousing, like most American kids, go off to a variety of schools (local public, charter, home school),... Read More

Kids of Cohousing – A Fun Opportunity to Shine!

Submitted by Laura Fitch on
We are gathering a collection of videos (and other materials) about growing up in cohousing that we are hoping to debut at the National Cohousing Conference in Durham, NC in May. Do you know young, teen, or grown children in your community who enjoy music, drama, poetry and/or video production. Do you have some awesome... Read More