Neighborhood friendships in winter
In the summer we went to the playground every day and made friends with everyone. But now it’s winter, and you no longer automatically meet every day, but have to make a special appointment. In the group chat we write “going to the park in 5 minutes” or “someone else on the way today” or “who’s coming to the play café on Saturday” or “do you have a sleigh”. That’s not enough for me! I would love to share my location with the group chat as soon as we go out. Then the other families could try to steer in our direction and we would meet, half by chance, half on purpose, and spend the afternoon outside together. But sharing your location is something you only do with family members or friends you’ve known for years! The playground acquaintances are all very nice, but I don’t want to be intrusive. Since our district is not large and has a few particularly small child-friendly areas, I still meet one or two acquaintances on every outing, even without any explicit appointment or coordination. I look forward to the times when we sit on the lawn again every day with our ridiculously large picnic blanket and so many friends happen to come over that by the end of the afternoon the entire blanket is full of children and parents.
(Alina Smithee)