A Great Place to Raise Kids

A Great Place to Raise Kids

I moved to Oberlin in 2008 and was immediately charmed by its small-town feel. My kids were six and twelve at the time and we found that Oberlin was a terrific place to raise kids. Because the town was small--and since everybody seemed to be watching over them--we could let the kids roam all over. My young son would hang out with a group of boys his age at houses all over the neighborhood; moms regularly called each other to figure out whose house the boys were playing at. But I never felt I had to worry about his safety. One day, when he was maybe in third grade, someone driving past me stopped their car to tell me that they had seen my son out walking and that he wasn't on the sidewalk. I knew my kids couldn't get into any real trouble with folks like that watching out for them.