Tag: Children


Equipment Care and Storage

Submitted by Sharon Villines, Takoma Village on
Communities designing their common houses often ask about what they will need. What do people really use? What kind of storage is needed and what will go in it? Is an office necessary and for what? They don’t know about storage for 8 snow shovels or 6 different kinds of brooms and mops. When our... Read More
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Camping and Cohousing

Submitted by Peter Lazar on
In my younger days, I would backpack into the wilderness to set up camp; then we had kids and began ‘car’ camping; we progressed to a Wildernest camper; our kids got bigger and we upgraded to a small hard sided camper; we missed sleeping outdoors, but our bodies are getting too old to sleep on... Read More
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Grad School Essay: Cohousing Fostered Intellectual Curiosity and Prioritization of the Collective Good

Submitted by Jessie McCamant Durrett on
Note: Jessie is sharing one of her graduate school essays, a personal reflection that profiles how cohousing affected her view of the world. I imagine that every child who grew up in cohousing has woven that experience into their college applications. Coho/US would welcome collecting and sharing these inspirations! Please contact us. This photo is... 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 Causes Conflict in Cohousing?

Submitted by Sharon Villines, Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC on
I thought a question on the cohousing email list what causes conflict in cohousing was an interesting one. There was an element of surprise in the question. Do you allow conflict? Sometimes we paint ourselves to potential new members as rainbows and candy. The usual suspects that cause conflict are “parents, pets, and pesticides”. Or... 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

An Inclusive Culture of Support

Submitted by Sharon Villines, Takoma Village Cohousing on
Rather than teams focusing on support for aging in place, I think it would be better to have a team focused on (1) what all community members need and (2) extending our notions about the abilities of all individuals to support others. Just because people are aging doesn’t mean they have more needs than anyone... 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