[nsnick]

The problem with suburbs is they don’t allow kids to get any amount of independence because they must be driven everywhere by their parents. I moved from a US suburb to a small city in Europe when I was 12 and it was liberating. I could suddenly walk or bike downtown alone.

[jjav]

"Suburb" is such a broad term so difficult to compare what it means.

Your description sounds the exact opposite of suburb to my experience.

A suburb area is optimal for young kids as they can go everywhere. Parks, playgrounds, forest trails, movie theaters, everything is within a 10 minute walk or 3-5 minute bike ride. That's what the suburb experience means to me and the life we live right now.

In a city (SF/NYC) I couldn't possibly let my <10yr old go anywhere without extreme supervision given the crime, drugs, abusive cops, prostitution, crazy homeless, etc in every corner.

[wetmore]

Actually you possibly could. Just because you think that's what NYC is like doesn't mean it's actually that way. I won't comment on Sf since I've never lived there.

[jjav]

FWIW, I spent my 20s mostly in NYC (although living across the river in NJ) so I'm not unfamiliar with the area. Granted, it's been a while.

[treeman79]

Downtown of our small 130k town is a mile walk.

We can walk to many things. We are still considered suburban.

Further out and walking to shops is less plausible. But then you have lots of nature to wak around

[kelnos]

It's funny because my first thought was "a mile is around a 20 minute walk; that sounds really nice!" But if you have young kids, a 20 minute walk just to get somewhere can be torture.

[tayo42]

suburbs are different then rural? I grew up in a suburb and walked and rode my bike everywhere. ran around the streets with friends and got into plenty of trouble skateboarding around town. population between 20-30k.

[jackcosgrove]

Need to make a distinction between car-dependent postwar suburbs and suburbs with train connections to the city. The latter are older and often have walkable neighborhoods.

[spamizbad]

Many HOAs have rules that require children under the age of 13 to be supervised by an adult when outside the home.

Technically this is policy and not law but you could rack up huge fines if you do not supervise your kids. Often times parents trade off and coordinate but it’s still a hassle.

[masonic]

  Many HOAs have rules that require children under the age of 13 to be supervised by an adult when outside the home.

Not remotely the case in the US. There can be common-area usage restrictions (e.g. pool and spa), but they can't constrain anything done off property.