Question about children living near classmates

amother

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 8:11 am

How important is it for children to have school friends in the neighborhood?
Should that be a big consideration when choosing a place to live?

amother

Seafoam

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 8:15 am

We live in an area that has tons of frum families. My kids are always getting together with friends on shabbos. I love seeing them interacting with so many friends. It makes me happy to see them having fun. On the other hand I grew up in a smaller neighborhood. I never got together with friends on shabbos. I don't remember it ever bothering me. That's just the way it was. So.....I think if they are near friends it's an added bonus but if they're not they'll be ok anyway.

shabbatiscoming

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 8:19 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

How important is it for children to have school friends in the neighborhood?
Should that be a big consideration when choosing a place to live?

I think having friends near by is one of the most important things in deciding where to live, once you have kids. We live in a yishuv, so my daughter has girls all in walking distance. But we have three neighbors on our block, none go to the same school and they are the best of friends. They play together every shabbat.
So, I dont think it has to be friends from school, I think having who to play with is very important.

fleetwood

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 8:28 am

I grew up in a neighborhood with jews but nobody in my class lived within walking distance to me. I hated although I had shul friends I always wished I could get together with everyone on Shabbos. Our kids school is ten blocks away and so many kids in their class live nearby,it's so nice,and I'm so happy they don't feel left out like I always did .

amother

Red

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 8:37 am

Growing up I had both school friends and neighborhood friends. I had classmates in walking distance but my block friends were either younger than me or went to a different school. It was nice

STMommy

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 8:38 am

Quote:

Oh my gosh, this is me. Seeing my kids have Shabbos playmates and thinking back to how I had no one - the difference is like night and day. It's a very big deal.

mrsjay

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 8:39 am

My daughter does not have any school friends in walking distance but she does have a handful of friends on our block. She’s always playing with the neighbors and I think she appreciates a break from her school friends and enjoys having different groups of friends.

amother

Chocolate

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 8:50 am

It could be that when my kids are older, it might be different, but now I find they have their siblings to play with and don't need friends. We do though have their cousins living not far and they like it when they come to play.

amother

Fuchsia

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 8:54 am

I think in Lakewood there's a somewhat of a dichotomy, where kids have their circle of friends from the neighborhood which are separate from their circle of friends from school. Because there are so many schools, and each school has kids from all over...

So you can have a kid who's really popular in the neighborhood but not so much in school, or vice versa.

imasinger

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 9:03 am

Just make sure they have a few likely friends they can get to.

I grew up in a house on a main road. It didn't help my natural loner tendencies.

amother

Dodgerblue

Thu, Mar 04 2021, 9:39 am

I live in Lkwd in a development with over 100 families and we are the only 1 in a particular school. I’m extremely happy in the school and feel I fit better there than in the neighborhood. I also like my child’s school friends better. Maybe cuz a lot of them are oldest and we are in a young school - there’s less pressure and bragging and over all high maintaince-ness amount the school friends. The problem is anytime there is a day without bussing or a school something, I’m the only one driving so that can be annoying...