A few years ago I had a lovely interview for Philadelphia Magazine with local writer Ronnie Polaneczky, who recently wrote the outstanding series for the Phila Inquirer, Falling Off the Cliff, about the lack of solutions for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as they grow into adulthood and well beyond; and how this creates a crisis for their families.

I just stumbled on that story in Philadelphia magazine, and the part about Growing Up Global is here:

“This demographic [newly urban] of parents is often well educated and world-traveled, and they don’t want their children to grow up in an isolated environment,” says Homa Sabet Tavangar, Berwyn-based author of the wonderful Growing Up Global: Raising Children to Be at Home in the World. “Urban life gives them a chance to expose their children casually to many different cultures.”

Such parents are conscious that the world today is very different from the one they knew as children—“For their kids to compete in a global workforce, they’ll need to interact comfortably with people from many cultures,” Tavangar says—and they’re environmentally aware. “They don’t want to be living a life with a big, energy-consuming house with water-guzzling grass and the gas-guzzling car they’ll need for even the simplest errands.”

Still, if they’re anything like my husband and I were when we were young parents, they’re less concerned with shrinking their carbon footprint than with what’s best for the precious lives they’re nurturing. And they’re asking: What impact will city living have on my child?

And for those on the sidelines, watching them ponder their choices, an equally interesting question is: What impact will all these kids have on the city?
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/articles/2011/09/21/raising-kids-in-the-city/#gstpJSb55R5gjBAx.99