Had you asked me ten years ago where I thought I'd be raising my children, I'd have answered in a beat: "the rambling countryside". In a house with a big garden as far away from any city as possible. No pollution, no traffic jams, no dog poo on the pavement. Only cow poo in the fields.
Life had other ideas, however, and we are undeniably City Kids. In what feels to me like the most city-ish of places: Milan. With its frequently dangerous levels of air pollution, insane traffic and almost complete lack of green spaces. Where 99% of the population live in small flats without gardens, many kids have unexplained eye and respiratory problems, and it's always just a bit smelly.
Can you tell I feel guilty about bringing the Bean up here? But this is our life, one that we chose. Plus I have to remind myself that he doesn't really care. He doesn't see things the way I do.
I see an expanse of forbidding concrete, he sees an assault course for his trolley.
Life had other ideas, however, and we are undeniably City Kids. In what feels to me like the most city-ish of places: Milan. With its frequently dangerous levels of air pollution, insane traffic and almost complete lack of green spaces. Where 99% of the population live in small flats without gardens, many kids have unexplained eye and respiratory problems, and it's always just a bit smelly.
Can you tell I feel guilty about bringing the Bean up here? But this is our life, one that we chose. Plus I have to remind myself that he doesn't really care. He doesn't see things the way I do.
I see an expanse of forbidding concrete, he sees an assault course for his trolley.
I see sad, sparse tufts of green in far too much brown. He sees a blade of grass, a fountain, and thinks "I'll wash one of those!".
I see walls covered in dog wee, he sees an opportunity for a giggle with Daddy.
I see roads and roaring traffic right alongside the park, but he only focuses on the leaves that need to be 'mown'.
I see how nothing escapes the dirt and the graffiti, I see the shabbiness and grim-faced neglect of it all.
He just makes a beeline for the climbing frame.
So this is our ordinary life as City Kids: adventures in an urban jungle, fun found in unlikely places, a toddler who just wants to run around and point out the trams. And a mummy who does, in spite of herself, have a blast kicking leaves alongside him.
Come say hello:
