Are kids raised in the country at a disadvantage?

[sseelhoff]

The advantage or disadvantage, imho, has more to do with how they are raised, then where they are raised.

If kids come from a loving home, with parents who care about teaching them right from wrong, responsibility, a work ethic, and reading, writing and 'rithmatic, they will be at an advantage over kids who's parents don't invest the time in their own offspring.

Kids do need socialization, If they go to school, and have friends they can hang out with on frequent basis, it's shouldn't be an issue. It may be harder in a rural area to get to their friends, but not impossible. The older they get, the more options become available for that to happen (bicycle, horseback, golf cart, etc..)

I agree with what has been posted here about the opportunities for a rural upbringing to have a number of advantages over a more urban upbringing, including teaching responsibility (raising animals, doing chores) and self reliance (fixing things, growing food). Not that those opportunities don't exist in the city-their just not as big a part of a rural lifestyle. (Which is why we love it so.)

 

[beppington]

It just occurred to me that I'm pretty sure a tractor forum wouldn't be the best place for an unbiased opinion on which is better, city or country :laughing:

I'm also sure my friend's richy-rich urban city-slicker business-man dad would not think the country is a good place to raise kids.

And, he may have a point: I know it's not all about money, but money sure helps ... I wonder what percentage of "country" people are rich compared to "city" people. If you value income/ wealth/ financial opportunity highly, maybe the city is better.

 

[SPIKER]

I was in a pretty big school, though it was a RURAL school we still had some 1000 in our class for SR High. We had 5 or 6 grade schools come together into JR/SR high. I started out with my grade school class of about 75 or so students,other grade schools had a lot more. We were poor as in VERY poor. Even in the city we had to fish for dinner quite often as kids mom would send us to the creek or a local pond to get some dinner. I moved out into country at 13yrs old and learned more "Life Long Lessons" out there than I did in town. We raised Chickens, goats and gardened a LOT to survive. While book learning can be very good in a city the fact is the "life lessons" learned in a city are not as good though you can learn how not to trust people or depend on them or feel safe going to school for fear of abuse or getting robbed/attacked or worse. Others already mentioned drugs are much worse in cities than rural areas though both have problems when kids are not raised to respect themselves enough to stay away from them..
On the other hand you have very good education in small towns as well as a lot of good life lessons and such. Living close to small town you have all the social interactions in a more trusting safer areas.

I dont think any mom would tell their kids (7+ years old) living in a city to go down to the park to catch dinner? why not>? polluted water, kid would have his fishing pole stolen by older bullies, would get propositioned by strangers or wacked in the head & tossed into the creek ect...

Mark

 

[Combustix]

We decided when we purchased our 20 acres on the side of the mountain that we were going to home school, due to my job at the time. My wife was apprehensive at first as she had been a city girl mostly, and had been an entertainer for the last 10 years. They would come out and stay with me on the ship I worked on as the company allowed them to stay as long as they wanted. The crew was multinational and I think we had someone from every country, I worked for a large cruise line. I don't think my kids played with just white kids until I left the cruise line and they were home more. So they have seen a lot of diversity.

After talking with friends that have kids the same age as ours I am glad we are out in a rural area and home schooling as well. Hearing about 8 year old kids wanting cell phones and the disruptions you get in class. Mine go out in the morning to tend to their animals, then start lessons. When they are done they got the rest of the day to play until evening animal care. They have had pets preyed on by coyotes and rejoice when the wife takes one down. They work in the garden and I have been letting the older one ride the quad to do chores with , as well as with the tractor. He recites all the safety concerns and things he needs to be aware of to me before we start operations. He's 10 now and we started a year ago. The 8 year old is getting his intros. They do 4h and different sports leagues the county has so they have friends from there. Though the big thing we wanted is for them to have a strong bond with each other, as at the house you play with your brother or alone and they enjoy playing together.

The older one does archery in 4h and we will get each their first BB gun for xmas, now the fun begins. I have no worries when I send the two of them to the mail box for the paper or the mail. My youngest was upset with us at thanksgiving because we didn't grow the turkey this year. I would venture 85% of what we eat we grew or raised or bought from a local farmer. My boys do not like McDonalds anymore as the meat doesn't taste right to them, and that's from my 8 year old. Growing up in an urban setting I wish I had the same opportunities they have now. I think the life skills they are learning now with growing food, raising animals, and having to make do on their own is easier than trying to learn this after growing up in a city or even an urban area. Heck I've had my tractor 8 years before I found this site and have learned more about things to do with it and how things work on it since I joined in May, than the prior 8. Plus you never see a feel good part of the news with country kids going to the city and saying what a wonderful time they're having, trying to avoid getting run over at the crosswalks:laughing:

 

[buckeyefarmer]

They are the lucky ones!

 

[brewdog]

They are the lucky ones!

I agree with Buckeyefarmer completely.

 

[Redneck in training]

I didn't read all the responses for a reason. I didn't want to be influenced. We moved from larger city (Des Moines) to small town (Polk City) of 800 people when our children were still in elementary school. It was the best move we made for our children. After a while we knew a lot of parents, their children and teachers as well. In my opinion small schools are better. Now I will read what the consensus is.

 

[magicheater]

I agree with Buckeyefarmer completely.

They are the lucky ones!

I agree and would add in response to the original question, compared to what. Perhaps the others are at a disadvantage.

 

[Redneck in training]

I think the consensus is overwhelmingly rural is better. There is another thing. If you live in the country you can always drive to town but if you live in town it is difficult (unless you own some place) the other way around.
I tell people about the sky we see during moonless clear nights, about sitting on our porch listening coyotes, crickets, frogs, cicadas and other sounds of nature. We have great bone fires, we can cross country ski or snow shoes on our own land, skate on our own pond etc.
Interestingly our kids live in the burbs and so far have no intention to move to the farm. So we are waiting for our grandchildren to grow up little older so we could expose them to rural life.

 

[two_bit_score]

I think it matters more about the sociability of the parents than the rural or urban environment where the kids are brougt up. I was brought up in both but my parents were very involved and knew everyone. In the rural county I lived in while going to high school I could at one time say I knew almost every family in that county. The ones I didn't know knew someone I knew. Not that it was a small county. I worked in a political campaign in high school and over 20,000 votes were cast in that county.

But I also had a fantastic time growing up in Houston and going downtown and to the museums by myself on Saturday or with friends or cousins. We knew people from all social strata and even today I run into people who knew my parents. We lived in an old part of town and there are still families living on that street who were there when we lived there originally.

Traveling as much as possible helps kids, too. We didn't travel internationally when I was a kid but Mexico was a routine trip and we were always going someplace in Texas.

Someone mentioned rural schools not having resources. There are some that are struggling for sure but I also know one very rural school district in south Texas that has resources enough to hold their own with any city district in the state. Most seem to be making it pretty well. So it depends on where you are, too.