If you have kids, how important is backyard space to you?

hereonceagain

I've always loved backyard space.  However once we bought a home with a gigantic backyard, I realized all the work involved was too much.  We now want something smaller.  So we looked at a home with a relatively small backyard.  Not enough room to play one on one volleyball or anything like that.  Just enough for maybe 5 chairs and a table and a patio for bbq.   I wonder how much I'll miss the space of having my LO one around in a more spacious backyard.

If you have kids, is it important to you?

Desmond&MollyJones*

For me, it's a must.

The house I live in now is on 1.5 acres.  I would say more than half of that is wooded, so it's really not too much to maintain. 

But I assume our kids will have a blast exploring the woods, just like my siblings and I did growing up.

thatgirl2478

Well, we moved from a yard that had about 700 sqft to a .20 acre lot.  The back yard was a huge consideration for us - not just because we have a child but also because we have dogs.

 

For us - it was a big deal.  We rejected a number of nice houses because they lacked an adequate back yard.  But you're right - big yards = lots of work!

hocus

Honestly that sounds too small. I'd want room for a BBQ, table, swing and place to run around.

I was never really interested in having a house, but whenever we visit people with houses I really enjoy the backyard with my toddler so we're considering it now. I wouldn't want the work involved in having a house without the a bigger back yard. We'd also never buy without leaving room in the budget for yard work. We both work and have two kids. I don't want to feel like I have to spend a huge chunk of my weekend doing yard work.

simplein06

We don't have kids, but for resale purposes having a yard is a must.  Most people want to be able to put up a swing set etc. 

jess0104

We have just over 1 acre. It is a lot of work, but my DH likes it (for the most part). I would have been fine with a yard half the size, but still big enough to throw around a baseball, have enough room for a patio and swingset, etc. Even though our child is under 2 yo still its fun to watch him run around the outside. I think if our lot was less than 0.5 an acre that would just feel more contained...

MC2Mommy

VERY important to me.  It is an absolute must.  Kids need to have a place to run and exercise.  For me, it is easier to maintain a yard than it is to take them to a park to run or enroll them in those "classes" where they run around.  And my kids do use the yard everyday unless the weather is unbearable.  My ds is 5.5 and I love that he has a safe, secure outside area to explore alone.  He goes outside for hours at a time digging for snails, playing with the dog, climbing on the playset, playing ball, etc. It is great for when my kids have friends over too.  I send them right outside to play.

We have a half acre but how out home is situated on the lot, 90% of the property is backyard space.   I wouldn't move anywhere with less than that. 

HisSchnukums

Its a dealbreaker for me and I don't have children yet. I want to have space for a garden, large bbqs and dogs running around.

patrish1980

we have just under 1/2 acre.  It's big enough that the kiddos will have plenty of room.  Small enough that DH can mow in a little above an hour

I really like the amount of room we have.  It's big enough that we could have a tent up or a bounce house rented for the back yard.  Small enough that I can see our entire property from my back window

wst26

For us it isn't a big consideration as long as we lived in a place with easy access to parks and trails. We really, really hate yard work though.

makinithappen

The current house is .15 acres.  It has a back yard big enough for a swing set and lounge area, but not big enough IMO.  I bought it as a single parent and wanted under 1hr/week upkeep.  We are looking at houses now and want more in the .5 acre range.

SwizzleStiX

We live in a TH/condo and just have a small concrete slab patio. It's big enough for two plant beds, a four seater table/umbrella and a grill. It's definitely too small.

I'd want something big enough for a little patio/deck, a grill, and then a small patch of grass for the kid to play soccer/catch, run around, etc. 

We also have a dog, so it'd be nice for the dog to have a grassy patch to hang out in and lay in the sun, instead of having to poop on concrete.

absent*minded

It depends where you live.

We have a ton of parks and public greenspace around us. Our yard is pretty much what you described, and we love the (low) maintenance.

This is coming from someone who grew up on a multi-acre partially-wooded lakefront property. I prefer living in a city!

luvbeingmom

Very important...

My kids LOVE going outside and it's a great breather for me. I can just open the door and let them run themselves crazy out there while I get stuff done in the house.

Watching them walk around and explore things in the dirt, grass, rocks is nice too.

A paved patio area is great for them to play on ride on toys and draw on with chalk. I also have them do the messy stuff outside like paint and bubbles.

So for us it's an extension of the activities indoors. 

jenn248

Do you have a park or any place nearby for kids to run around?  We have a townhouse, and love not having to do yardwork.  There are plenty of kids in our neighborhood, and they either run around the cul-de-sac or go to the park across the street.  Kids will adapt to whatever space you have; just think about how many kids grow up in apartments in the city.

shouldbworkin

Pretty important.  We have a large yard, but have made most of it maintenance free.  We have a nice patch of lawn to the back and side of our house and that's it.  Enough for a swing set and trampoline.  The beds are all perennials.  The front is gravel (wooded lot too, so that helps) with lots of room to ride bikes, etc.  It's great!  We don't need to leave the yard to go play, but it's not so big that they can't be out there w/o me seeing them. 

Onomatopoeia

It's very, very important to us.  We have about 1/2 acre.  It's more work, but you don't have to go nuts landscaping to perfection.  We cut the grass and mulch, that's about it.  With 2 little boys who love to be outside it's well worth the hassle for us. 

Having a yard exponentially increases our quality of life.  Having just enough room for a bbq and a patio set would be really hard with kids.    Certainly do-able (many people do) but not preferable, at least for us.

 

kgettingmarried

It's very important.  Kids need a safe space to play outside (well not "need", but it's a very awesome thing to be able to give your kids).  We bought an acre lot because of it that backs up to a park.  

Rosieoutlook

We have a small city lot with an addition, deck, two car garage and a parking space. The grassy area is very limited. It's the one thing I hate about my house. I wish I had more grassy space that wasn't broken up by deck, concrete, etc for my son to run. I consider this enough of  a problem that I want to move to a different house.

Purple Corn

depends how close the park is.

LMH1209

A yard was very important to us, but we didn't look for a huge yard.  We wanted a flat place big enough to throw a ball.  Our lot is only 5400 sq ft total, but our backyard is completely flat and open.  It's plenty of space for us, but we also live in a fairly close in neighborhood with good parks in walking distance.

Pamela05

Very important to us and even more so if you live in an area where they can't just run down the street and get to a park.  Room to play safely without immediate supervision is important to us.

AnnecyDream

I'd like to someday have a yard in our "forever" home, but for now, we don't have one and we don't miss it, even with LO walking.

We live in a condo in a relatively urban area near Cambridge, MA. There are 3 parks and a 2.5 mi. loop around a reservoir all within a 10 min. walk from our condo.  LO still gets outside plenty, and it's not all structured classes at all.

I like that we share our "backyard" with our neighbors, meaning the local parks. I think that if/when we move further out to the burbs, I'm going to miss the sense of community that comes from using the public parks as much as I do now.

Dr.Loretta

Our last house had minimal back yard space. Fortunately DD was tiny so it wasn't as important. But once she started getting mobile it kinda sucked.

Now we're in a house with a large (but very manageable) back yard. She's out there almost every day.

Surely you can compromise with a large-ish yard that isn't all-maintenance-all-the-time. The last house we looked at had 2 acres, which was too much. This house has more like 0.6-0.7, which is perfect. And the lawn guys are cheap!

hereonceagain

When I say "huge" it's not all that big.  We are in Los Angeles, so it's not acreage.

The park is 4 blocks away...5 minute walk.

 

Carol*Brady2

I wanted something...but we are NOT yard people--so a small swatch of grass & a patio is fine with us.  We live in the city & have a school (playground) 100' away & a large park 2 blocks away.  This is our yard size (Before picture, I don't have an all over after picture)---It was totally redone this summer--left of garage is now kid space (mulched with a sandbox, teeter-totter, slide, etc) & the right side of the yard (sidewalk over) is all now a huge patio--with the middle grass (patio is gone) & it's perfect for our needs & our lot is only like 6,000SF total.

 

EastCoastBride

We used to live in the city w/a  concrete pad as our "yard".  A park was w/ in easy walking distance.  But now that we have a yard (.36 acre w/ a 2100 sq ft house on it), I LOVE it.  DS literally will just go out back and RUN. 

And it's nice to be able to open up the door and let him go instead of having to plan on going for a walk to the park.  We can easily kill a few minutes byjust going out back to let some of the steam off. 

We're not super thrilled w/ the yard work - but we're trying to make it as low- maintenance as possible. 

 

hereonceagain

Thanks for posting that.  Ours looks very very similar.  I'm sure I could fix it up nice.  Just a lot less space than I am used to.

 

carol*brady2:

I wanted something...but we are NOT yard people--so a small swatch of grass & a patio is fine with us.  We live in the city & have a school (playground) 100' away & a large park 2 blocks away.  This is our yard size (Before picture, I don't have an all over after picture)---It was totally redone this summer--left of garage is now kid space (mulched with a sandbox, teeter-totter, slide, etc) & the right side of the yard (sidewalk over) is all now a huge patio--with the middle grass (patio is gone) & it's perfect for our needs & our lot is only like 6,000SF total.

 

EastCoastBride

This is a pretty decent picture of our backyard.  And a reason I LOVE it:

hereonceagain

very cute!!! 

I forgot to mention there is lawn space in the front yard too.  Obviously backyard would be preferable.  I just can't decide if it'll bother me. 

 

EastCoastBride:

This is a pretty decent picture of our backyard.  And a reason I LOVE it:

EastCoastBride

Our front yard is actually a relatively decent sized.  Our lot is pie shaped, and the front yard is the outer edge. (the hard to see bench in the back of the picture is at the tip of the pie)  DS has recently gotten into playing out there too and running around the tree out front.

It's nice, but as it's on the street - I'm always a little more paranoid.  Out back, I can run inside if I need to, throw some food together, pee.... what have you.  But out front, I HAVE to be out there.