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We have a fairly large neighborhood (200 homes) and my 1st grader asked me the other day if any other kids lived there

I see older kids out all the time - probably 14 or so but never younger ones!

Also, I work FT OTH, so maybe they are outside while we are gone??

eta: Next year I want him to take the bus to school - mainly to meet other kids!

Our neighborhood is "turning over," in that a lot of families are now moving in as the old timers sell their homes.

We have a school at the end of our street (dead end) so it's a popular street to ride bikes, so we see kids regularly. There's a family next door that has kids my son's age, but we don't see them that much, to be honest, mostly during the summer months.

As for who he plays with, I've learned it is more important that I am comfortable with the parents, because if i don't want to spend time with them, I am surely not doing playdates, does that make sense?

@Chuckles: haha, i can totally understand the nutty parents!
I am sure people think i am a nut too, but man!

What are your expectations? My son is an only child and I have to make the effort for him to have stuff to do on the weekends, because there just aren't kids around. And he's also not going to the neighborhood school come September, so i am thinking maybe involving him in the town's tee ball or cub scouting options.

Our neighborhood is "turning over" too.

My SIL has had neighborhoods that have more kids, but most parents work full time and kids have activities so there just isn't as much time anymore.

My neighborhood is absolutely filled with 7-12 year old boys. We moved on a year ago and My 10 year old step son is in heaven. It's a safe area, and a quiet street. They all play together--nerf gun battles mostly--right in the street. All of these houses have backyards, and there's an awesome park a block away, but they play in front of the houses.

I don't think it's common, but it's absolutely possible.

Our neighborhood is filled with kids, and our zoned public elementary school where my DD goes is literally inside the neighborhood. However, the kids' ages varies completely from street to street. Our street has mainly high school students. There are a few families with elementary age students on our street but the kids don't play together much because we are on different evening and weekend schedules. However, a friend of mine lives a few streets over and her street always has kids in the street playing. Sometimes it's kind of hard to control or predict this kind of thing.

We live in a very family-kid-friendly neighborhood, and it was one of the selling points of our house. Of course things can change, but most of the families intend to stay here and raise kids here and want a family-friendly neighborhood. We live on a cul-de-sac with about 10 homes and the overwhelming majority of homes have children. There are 14 kids between the ages of 16 months to about 10/12. LO will go to school with at least 1 of the other girls and has a gang of girlfriends within 1 year of her age.

Most of the kids are out playing every evening night (that’s decent weather) and they all play back and forth all weekend. There are enough of each age range that you’ll see the little packs of older kids playing hoops, the younger ones together playing, etc. Last weekend, one girl 1 year older than my LO just showed up at our house around 11am to see if LO could play , so we invited her in and they played for several hours together.

I think part of this depends on the cost of your home as well. We live in a neighborhood with relatively expensive homes so a lot of the owners are older and therefore not as many young kids. Lots of retirees, and families with high school age kids. But we got super lucky that a family with a daughter 6 months younger than ours bought the house next door 1 month after we did. We sit in our front yards/driveways and play in the evening at least 3 times a week.

@hilsy85: I think it depends on the size of the suburb you choose. I live in a pretty small "neighborhood" of a larger metro city. I can barely go to the grocery store without running in to friends. And we constantly pass each other on the street (we're driving so we just wave) but usually it's followed up with a text check in that will often result in "ok, meet you at the playground in 5".

I would go hang out at the local parks in the afternoons/on weekends and drive by the neighborhood you're interested in after school is out on weekdays. That should give you some sense of what to expect. I did that and it worked well. We found a place where there are lots of children and my LO doesn't even have to leave the block to find friends to play with.

Also, if you find a place where there are kids, but everyone is inside/off doing activities/in their backyards, you can always start to change the culture. We do our own gardening, and that forces us to be outside in our front yard a lot, so we naturally meet pretty much everyone. There are a lot of people who go for walks around the neighborhood even if they don't have kids. (One caveat on the gardening: Being on a ride-on mower or pushing a motorized lawnmower is not conducive to "Operation: Meeting Neighbors and Making Friends." The noise kind of kills conversation, you know? Go for something that is more pleasant to care for like a big flower bed instead. And get a reel mower for the grass. )