When I was a kid, my grandmother's house had a long alley behind it where she would walk her dog and I would go on long walks. It was by far the coolest place to explore in the whole range of my kid-boundaries.

I've heard it's been lovely at Orewa over the past week. Folks were posting pics on our community FB group.

💯

I think the social norms really matter. If the expectation is each child has their own bedroom + intensive parenting and housing costs are such that 2 parent incomes are needed, having a kid becomes really hard. It makes sense not to if you can’t meet the social expectations around it.

Yes it really helped a great deal. Hoping everything grows nicely despite the very rough start.

Me too! I think I can at least hang on to the roses. Not sure about the others . . .