“My dears, imagine staying in a beautiful house with a lot of space to play around. We will host barbecue parties in our backyard and invite your friends for play dates. You may run around without the fear of disturbing the people staying downstairs, decorate your room with your favourite theme. You can have great combined study sessions on our sunset deck and celebrate festivals with friends and family in our new home. You can watch deer grazing in our neighbourhood and all these at the luxury of not changing your current schools.”
As I completed the long list of rosy promises, my children, aged 13 and 8, gazed at me with teary eyes.
My husband and I were trying to convince them to agree to move from our apartment to a new house. They were not excited, and as always, they asserted that they preferred to remain in this community. It was time to renew our apartment lease for another year, and we were fortunate to have found a house for sale that suited our requirements. It is a highly prized property in the coveted school district where our children study. We wanted to buy the house, but the biggest challenge was to get support from them.
In the past three years, they had the best time of their life. They had the most amazing outdoor playtime in this community. Effortlessly waking up in the early morning in peak summer for bike riding with their friends to making a snowman in winter, they created the finest memories to cherish forever. As families moved out and new people moved in, they enjoyed making new friends. They learned to deal with bullies and identify true and lasting friendships. This community is rich with children of every age group who love playing outdoors. An evening stroll outside is so refreshing with the sight of children everywhere and adults walking in groups enjoying conversations. So how will my children settle for a big house leaving behind all these true luxuries they enjoy?
While we know that there will be children in the area where we are moving to, we cannot promise that they will have a safe playing opportunity outdoors as they have here. It was time to make the final decision about whether or not to renew our apartment lease. We decided to drive around the new community once again. We expected to spot children playing around so that we can assure our children the same joy of outdoor playtimes.
As our car made its way out through the well-lit roads inside our community, we watched our children playing safely. The twilight rays had faded, but the courtyard was still bright and alive. Our pursuit of a positive feeling did not turn fruitful when we reached the area surrounding the new house. There were grand houses lined up on either side of the narrow lane. The ominous silence we felt there overshadowed the allure of the mansions around. No children were playing outside, no groups of socialising adults. We got our answer.
As we drove back, we decided to continue enjoying the comforts of our apartment complex. We feared being isolated in a big house, not finding friends of our kind. Probably we were now seeing through our children’s eyes. They curled into their bunk beds in the room they shared. We watched them fall asleep happily, without worries thanking us for deciding in favour of them.
meeranilkumarkj@gmail.com
