From One Trip to the Groceries

 

I try not to get snooty about how city living is better for kids than the suburbs, but today's post will be an exception.  We were out of flour and I wanted to make pancakes, so I decided to take Asher to the grocery store to get a bag.  In the suburbs, this would almost certainly involve hopping in the car; for example, where I grew up it was about a 5- to 10-minute drive (as opposed to a 20- to 30-minute walk).

Where we live in Philadelphia, we are lucky that there are at least three full-size grocery stores within a 5- to 10-minute drive, including the one I go to every week.  But there are also a couple of mid-size groceries and countless smaller ones within a 5- to 10-minute walk, including one just a couple of blocks from our house.  This is easily within Asher's range to walk without complaint, so we headed out of the house with a tote bag.

Even though it was probably three minutes from door to door and then another three minutes home, we were able to see so many things and cover so many topics.  Asher overheard two Middle Eastern men arguing, which led to a discussion about how there are many languages in the world besides English.  We passed by people of all ages and racial/ethnic backgrounds, and had a lovely encounter with a young man and his super-cute basset hound. We even passed by a couple of active construction sites, for which Asher took great interest in what was being done and how it was being done.

I suppose that a hermetically sealed and climate controlled car ride is pleasant too.  But part of parenthood is exposing your kids to the world and providing commentary along the way so they are ready to engage and contribute when they leave the nest.  Seems to me that a big city is the perfect place for that to happen.  Even the most mundane of activities, going to the grocery store to get a bag of flour, makes that patently obvious to me.