We don't live in a gated community...
We don't live in a gated community, but almost everyone we know does. And this has inspired some interesting conversations with my kids.

After all, why should I have to show my driver's license to take them to their friends' houses? Why should I have to tell a security guard where I'm going? And why does the guard take down my license plate as I drive through the gate?
But such is the nature of life in South Florida, and I have to explain it to my kids every time we approach a gate.
I don't think gates make a neighborhood more secure, and I don't like the message it sends to the rest of the world ("Keep out of my neighborhood!") But I don't want to put down my kids' friends' parents, so I have to temper the way I tell my kids this.
Do you live in a gated community? What do you tell your kids about why you do or you don't?
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