KIDS PLAYING IN THE BACKYARD

When a young family goes shopping for a house many times you hear that they are looking for a large, safe backyard for their family to grow and play in.  I was the same way. That was a definite requirement, a decent sized back yard for the kids to play in.  When I was first starting out, we didn't have a yard in the condo we lived in but we always dreamed of one. Everyone else always sent their kids to the back yard to play. When we would take the kids to the grandparents house, if they wanted to play, they went to the back yard.

Fast forward to April 2004. We moved to Wyoming and had  an okay sized, fenced in back yard where our then 2 kids could play. We soon discovered that no one in our new neighborhood or town for that matter played in their backyards.  Every child in the neighborhood was in the front yard. We actually noticed that when we were there on vacation the year before and stopped in the town we would eventually move to.  But we didn't pay it much mind, thinking it was probably a fluke.

Fast forward to August 2008 when we moved to a new town, same state. I thought 'ah ha maybe it was just the town we lived in'  Nope everyone plays in the front yards here too. Trying to get my children to go into the fenced in back yard is like pulling teeth as they say.  I just don't understand the difference.  

And kids in the front yards aren't the only things we've witnessed here in the cowboy state.  Everyone does everything in the front yard - BBQ's, Family gatherings, Those nice evenings when you just want to sit outside and enjoy the weather. It is all done in the front yard, within the view of at least 8 neighbors.  A good thing about it is that it helps you get to know your neighbors and that is awesome, knowing that there are people so close if your family ever needs something.  But I am just so used to the whole backyard/privacy thing that it was/is very hard for me to adjust.

If my insane son (Mr. Insane) is running around screaming the new expletive the neighbor boys taught him, well then I don't want the whole neighborhood to see it. If my two year old decides she wants to follow her older siblings outside and she is wearing nothing (as she usually is these days :/) I don't want the whole neighborhood to have to deal with it.  (People here are also very weird about naked babies but that is a whole other story). If I decide to give the Hubs a quick kiss over the porch railing while he is grilling, well I don't need three neighbors saying awww.  (And it seems you can be a lot louder and more obnoxious in the privacy of the backyard.)

I remember some great times in the backyard when I was younger. It was so much fun. Eating great food and enjoying refreshing drink while hanging out with friends and family.  I even remember a few backyard birthday parties that were great fun. My big question is, why the difference.  In the winter I could see it sometimes if the snow drifts are too high in the back yard, but in the summer it still makes me wonder what is wrong with the back yard.  

Maybe because it is a smaller population here and it is generally safer so people don't insist on their kids being corralled in the back yard?  I mean this is the wild west and if anyone were to dare hurt a neighborhood kid there would be half the street with their guns drawn catching the person before they even got halfway out of the neighborhood, so I guess that could be it.  I just don't know though.  My neighborhood growing up in Nevada was the same way and yet if we played outside it was at a park or in the backyard.  

I'm thinking this is just one of those things I may never know the answer to and that's okay.  I will still be trying to get my kids to play in the backyard with the dog and they will still probably refuse but hey, at least I have a yard for the kids like I always wanted!!! :)

Until Next Time...Embrace cultural differences whether they are from state to state or country to country.  Everyone is different for a reason, life would be boring if everyone was the same.