{"id":4875,"date":"2014-08-13T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/national\/?p=4875"},"modified":"2014-08-13T14:09:55","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T18:09:55","slug":"baby-friendly-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/national\/2014\/08\/13\/baby-friendly-cities\/","title":{"rendered":"13 ways to create baby-friendly cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cities<\/a><\/p>\n

Since having a baby, I have been experiencing my city through a\u00a0new lens. Before parenthood, I could move through the city\u00a0relatively freely on my own schedule, with my two feet to move\u00a0me around.<\/p>\n

Now I have a mini companion who needs to nurse every 2-3 hours,\u00a0frequently soils his pants and mostly travels in a stroller that I haul in and out of stores, onto buses and into public\u00a0washrooms. This makes getting around my neighbourhood a challenge.<\/p>\n

Spacing<\/em>\u00a0has written about how to create a family-friendly city<\/a>. But, I don\u2019t yet have a kid, I have a baby whose needs\u00a0are somewhat different than those of an older child. As a\u00a0result, I am learning that cities aren\u2019t as baby-friendly as\u00a0they could be.<\/p>\n

As I was writing this article, results of the 2013 US census<\/a>\u00a0revealed that the strongest population shift toward big cities\u00a0in the past year has been among the stroller set.\u00a0It\u2019s time that cities paid more attention to the needs of young\u00a0families. I am only three months into motherhood, but here are\u00a0some suggestions for the baby-friendly city.<\/p>\n

1. Walkable Neighbourhoods<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being on maternity leave, I walk\u00a0every day with my baby, either with a sling\/carrier or stroller.\u00a0It is often the one thing that puts him to sleep and allows me\u00a0to run errands, get some fresh air and relax. Parents and babies\u00a0benefit from this type of experience more than hauling all their\u00a0equipment into a car and going to a big box store. I am incredibly fortunate to live in a neighbourhood with a bustling\u00a0street called Commercial Drive that has everything. I am within walking distance of cafes, restaurants, banks, post offices,\u00a0salons, clinics, grocery stores, pharmacies, health food stores, boutiques and more.<\/p>\n

2. Curb Ramps and Elevators<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pretty much all of the sidewalks\u00a0in my neighbourhood have curb ramps to accommodate strollers,\u00a0wheelchairs and motorized scooters. This is not the case in all\u00a0communities, or even some buildings. I was downtown one day\u00a0trying to get around Pacific Centre Mall, where it was\u00a0impossible to find a functioning elevator to get down to the\u00a0main mall area, as I couldn\u2019t use the abundance of escalators.\u00a0My husband and I finally gave up and left.<\/p>\n

3. Crosswalks<\/strong><\/p>\n

As much as I love hurling my stroller into\u00a0traffic and hoping someone stops, a safe crosswalk is preferable.<\/p>\n

4. Wider Sidewalks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sidewalks can usually only accommodate\u00a0the width of one stroller. I didn\u2019t notice this until I started\u00a0going for walks with friends who are also new moms: often we\u00a0can\u2019t walk side by side. This is a minor inconvenience, but it\u00a0also results in my stroller getting in the way of other\u00a0pedestrians or people with wheelchairs, which brings me to my\u00a0next suggestion\u2026<\/p>\n

5. Wider Store Aisles<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a lot of small stores that\u00a0make it impossible for people with wheelchairs or strollers\u00a0to manoeuvre around narrow aisles of merchandise. I can\u00a0understand the lack of wide thoroughfares in restaurants, where\u00a0babies aren\u2019t always welcome, but this should not be the case\u00a0in, for example, a grocery store. If you can\u2019t accommodate my\u00a0stroller, I won\u2019t be shopping at your store.<\/p>\n

6. Automatic Doors<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before I had a stroller, I was sure that\u00a0all public buildings had automatic doors and that I just didn\u2019t\u00a0use \u00a0them. Well, turns out very few places have automatic doors \u2014<\/em>\u00a0and that many people don\u2019t open doors for a new mom hauling a\u00a0stroller backwards trying to simultaneously open a door and get\u00a0her stroller through at the same time.<\/p>\n

7. Areas for Nursing Privacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Breastfeeding in public\u00a0continues to be a controversial issue for some people, which I\u00a0find incredibly pathetic. The benefits of\u00a0nursing<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0the health of mothers and their children far outweigh someone\u2019s\u00a0slight discomfort at the site of an uncovered breast. Often\u00a0babies get hungry and upset while mothers are out and about and\u00a0they do not have a choice but to feed their child. Not every\u00a0mother is comfortable nursing in public because of these\u00a0attitudes, (myself included, although I do it anyways with a\u00a0cover). Often, malls and department stores have a \u2018family room\u2019\u00a0with a nice chair and changing station, where mothers can nurse\u00a0in private. Cities could provide support to mothers by providing\u00a0similar rooms in community centres, parks and other public
\nbuildings that families frequent.<\/p>\n

8. Community Programs for New Parents<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being a new mother \u2014<\/em>\u00a0or father\u2014<\/em> can be very isolating and emotionally and physically\u00a0exhausting. In the beginning, a new mom is typically healing from childbirth, learning to nurse, and trying to take care of\u00a0herself, her house and her baby all at once. New mothers and\u00a0parents need a place where they can share their experiences with\u00a0other parents and know that they are not alone. In addition to\u00a0support groups, cities should provide programs for new parents\u00a0such as mom\/baby yoga, developmental play classes, \u201cMovies for\u00a0Mommies\u201d and more. These usually take place at the local\u00a0community centre.<\/p>\n

9. Childcare for Babies<\/strong><\/p>\n

This may not be the case in all\u00a0cities, but I have found that in Vancouver, most daycare centres \u2014<\/em>\u00a0even those operated by the city \u2014\u00a0<\/em>rarely provide care for\u00a0children under the age of two. This means a parent who is\u00a0typically on leave for no longer than one year, has a hard time\u00a0finding someone who will care for his\/her child when s\/he\u00a0returns to work. Cities could also provide services that match\u00a0parents with appropriate childcare in their neighbourhood,\u00a0rather than having them search Craigslist or Google.<\/p>\n

10. Parks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every new parent and baby should be within safe walking distance to nature. My husband and I often take our baby to Trout Lake, a local park with a small lake that we can walk around. There is a community centre nearby and and a farmer\u2019s market on Saturdays.<\/p>\n

11. Reliable Public Transit, More Designated Space for\u00a0Strollers\/Wheelchairs<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order for a city to be truly\u00a0walkable, there must be access to reliable public transit. If\u00a0you are taking baby on public transit, you are probably out for\u00a0awhile and need to use a stroller. Unfortunately, it is not\u00a0always easy to take transit with a stroller. A new parent and\u00a0writer for Vancouver\u2019s Georgia Straight wrote about it here<\/a>.\u00a0In the past, this has lead to a \u201cwar\u201d between parents and seniors<\/a>\u00a0as\u00a0to who needs the courtesy seats more. This should not be the\u00a0case, as transit should provide enough accessible seats and a\u00a0clear policy that respects both the elderly and parents.<\/p>\n

12. A Map of Services for New Moms<\/strong><\/p>\n

To tie this all together,\u00a0it would be helpful to new parents if cities created resource\u00a0maps online and mobile apps that showed where all of the support\u00a0and services for new parents are located, (childcare, community\u00a0programs, private nursing areas, parks, etc.)<\/p>\n

13. Family Advisory Committees<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most cities have\u00a0public committees. Vancouver has loads of them<\/a>,\u00a0on everything from LGBTQ issues to food policy. Yet the city\u00a0does not have a family advisory committee that focuses on issues\u00a0for young families. A family\/children\u2019s advisory committee would\u00a0help inform the current city council on issues that matter to\u00a0new parents.<\/p>\n

Families with young children are a vital sign for healthy cities. Many parents don’t find it appealing to be totally car-dependent in a large house with a big backyard surrounded by suburban sprawl, big box stores and malls. If cities can provide baby-friendly amenities for new parents, we give them a better, healthier alternative to raise their children\u2014<\/em> in walkable urban areas. These kids may grow up to be city-lovers too.<\/p>\n

Photo\u00a0by\u00a0Matt Zhang<\/a><\/span>\u00a0via flickr, creative commons\u00a0<\/span>licence<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Cities-for-people-logo-NEW\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Cities For People features are project between\u00a0Spacing\u00a0<\/em>and Cities For People<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since having a baby, I have been experiencing my city through a\u00a0new lens. Before parenthood, I could move through the city\u00a0relatively freely on my own schedule, with my two feet to move\u00a0me around. Now I have a mini companion who needs to nurse every 2-3 hours,\u00a0frequently soils his pants and mostly travels in a strollerContinue reading “13 ways to create baby-friendly cities”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6051,"featured_media":4881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[476,419,23,429],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cities-for-people","category-infrastructure","category-urban-design","category-walking"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n13 ways to create baby-friendly cities - Spacing National<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/national\/2014\/08\/13\/baby-friendly-cities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"13 ways to create baby-friendly cities - Spacing National\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Since having a baby, I have been experiencing my city through a\u00a0new lens. 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