Country or City?

A few months ago, driving with my daughters in the back seat, 9-year-old Ella remarked, “You know, Dad, dinosaurs once roamed around Colorado. Even before there were Wendy’s and banks.”

I chuckled at the thought of a T-Rex running up the A-trail and then turned serious. Sixty-five million years is a hard enough concept to grasp, but with technology and population growth expanding uncontrollably, even relatively recent frontier times seem like ancient history. Our little Front Range escape is no longer the quaint, undeveloped town of old, and isn’t getting any smaller. As Fort Collins swells and development surges, I wonder: Does city size matter when raising children?

When we moved to Fort Collins in 2004, the population was 125,000. Today, it’s closer to 150,000. The development is obvious, from new neighborhoods south on Timberline Road to more traffic on College Avenue to the explosion of retailers at Front Range Village. Yet it’s essence has remained the same: friendly people, active lifestyle and great weather. I’m definitely hooked.

I was born and raised in the cosmopolitan city of Montreal, home to 2.5 million people. The street on which I grew up was home to more ethnicities than exist in Fort Collins. My friends and I took the subway and the city bus alone before junior high school. We functioned in two languages and developed the confidence that comes from living in a fast-paced atmosphere. After seven years in South Florida, also fast-paced and diverse, the speed finally got to me.

Once Ella was born in 2003, Tanya and I were ready to move. We sacrificed the financial opportunities and stimulation of urban living for the intimacy and amiability of a small town. We still love the sophisticated cultural and culinary opportunities of big cities (not the prices, mind you), but smaller and closer to nature were priorities.

There are many reasons to raise families in populous places like Chicago or New York or Atlanta. Proximity to higher education and extensive travel opportunities come to mind. I also suspect that a high percentage of kids who grow up in big cities develop an appreciation for multiculturalism and the confidence necessary to thrive in a competitive marketplace.

Some of my close friends and family are raising children in places such as Montreal, Toronto and Boston. While my kids and theirs might eventually think differently about issues like politics, business and the environment, I’m pretty sure the truly important aspects of their personalities will be similar. That’s because basic human kindness, generosity and respect are learned on the inside of the home.

Successful, happy people come from all pockets of the world: urban, rural and everything in between. And while external factors in a person’s development are innumerable, the ultimate product has nothing to do with whether you ride the train or a bike to school. Or, for that matter, a dinosaur.