The Lineup Ritual for Growth-Belters

David Brooks’ latest column in the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/13/opinion/sun-belt-migration.html) reflects on the internal migrations of Americans that I recently addressed at this forum. He, too, sees political connotations but also quality-of-life considerations. On the latter, it’s worth noting that the plusses and minuses don’t fall cleanly on one side or the other. Let me note one phenomenon I’ve observed in high-growth Sun Belt areas: Drivers lining up for dropoffs or pickups of school children, in queues that could snake a few blocks during the morning or afternoon rushes. I’m told it’s not unusual for the combined daily waits to exceed an hour. I guess this is smartphone-time for all in the vehicle, or podcast periods, so perhaps it’s not so dreadful for them as I imagine this waste to be. Like other forms of road congestion, it’s a function of how most suburbs develop, with distances that are covered by autos rather than tight street grids that invite walking. Also, the roads often invite speeds (when traffic moves) that make it dangerous for kids to cycle along them. This comes on top of a (necessary?) trend toward chaperoning into the early teen years, whereas I recall childhood being free-range back then. From this anecdotal evidence, I conclude that young parents following the nation’s population wave have, wittingly or otherwise, bought into a lifestyle that will add another extended chauffeur duty to their daily existence of play dates, sports and hobby practices, extracurricular classes, medical appointments and whatnot. (Of course, if they have license-age nannies, it becomes a different story.) This is a long way from “it takes a village” notions of upbringing, so maybe there is a political flavor to the embrace of the school-lot lineups, after all.