Our family recently moved to South Surrey. We are thrilled with the beauty, conveniences, and combination of both abundant nature and the services and amenities. As a family with three children, aged, 11, 6, and 4, we frequent local parks where our children love to scooter, enjoy playgrounds and sometimes enjoy a picnic.
On an early September trip to our neighbourhood park, my husband planned a longer two-hour stay as the children played an imaginary survival game, finding blackberries and fallen sticks as they navigated the area with laughter and innocence. For the little ones, we brought a new two-person-sized children’s tent, allowing for the kids to relax if they needed a break. As our family of five enjoyed a weekend morning at the park, we noticed nearby residents stopping to stare and a couple of them looking on with what seemed like disapproval.
Eventually a woman approached us asking if the tent belonged to us. When we kindly answered that it did, that it is for play, and not staying longer than a couple of hours, my husband joked that we were “moving in,” with a laugh. When I clarified that he was kidding, the woman smiled and responded that we did not look like that type.
As she walked away, I wondered what “that type” looks like. I also asked myself why neighbours looking on were concerned by a family playing alongside a small child’s tent. More importantly, I thought of the , not to mention the hundreds of homeless individuals, couples, and families i.