Mendocino is a beautiful small town in Northern California, its beauty derived from the thousands of redwoods that encompass it and the rocky headlands that line the coast. This small town attracts thousands of tourists each year, wanting to visit the scenic small town. With so many tourists each year visiting, some have to wonder what it would be like to live here, instead of a big city. To many this town could be a dream: It’s quiet, safe, and tight knit; however, there just isn’t much to do. This article will delve into the pros and cons of living in this small town and what kids did for fun while growing up. To accomplish this, a survey was given out to the authors of Shhhinsidevoice, gathering their thoughts about growing up in Mendocino, all of whom grew up here. They were asked what they did for fun during their toddler, middle school, and high school years.
As toddlers, half of them loved to play outside, run around, or climb trees. They also were into music, which included learning how to play instruments, or listening to it while they played. Mendocino has always been behind in technology, so one reason toddlers who grew up in Mendocino didn’t watch TV or play on their parents phone may have been caused by the lack in up-to-do date technology at the time. Personally, growing up in my toddler years, I was a big outdoors kid. I loved running around in the forest in our backyard, playing on my family’s wooden play structure that was ready to fall apart at anytime, and I also really loved to play with legos. It was no different than any others toddlers experience.
Moving onto middle school years, there was a big pattern in activities. Over 80% of those surveyed answered with hanging out with their friends, and over half of them played video games. These two activities made up all nearly all of the answers. Hanging out with friends during middle school is definitely not surprising. This happens all across the world, and around this time was when the growth in popularity of video games began to rise. So even living in a town that is lacking in technology, kids had a popular taste in video games.
Going into the high school years, the answers were a bit more spread out. Half of the them answered with hanging out with their friends, half of them enjoyed sitting at home either watching TV or playing video games, and about a third of them enjoyed hanging out with their animals. Similar to the middle school years, every high school kid enjoys hanging out with their friends. During this time, most high schoolers have their own hobby they pursue. In Mendocino, since the town is so small, they are limited, and what’s an entertaining, time consuming hobby that is relatively available to high school students in any town? Video games!
While there isn’t an abundance of activities to fill your time, one pro of growing up here that nearly all of those surveyed said was that they enjoyed being a part of a tight-knit community and living in such a beautiful area. One con of growing up here that over half of them said was how the town was so secluded ,and you would have to drive long distances to get anywhere. All in all, everyone who was surveyed, except for one, was glad that they were born here.
I don’t have many complaints about growing up here. Sure there may be not as many choices of how you want to spend your time, but there is enough. I’ve had just as fulfilling of a childhood than I think any other kid would’ve had. I’m happy I grew up here and I don’t wish I grew up anywhere else.