When my kids were really young, we visited parks nearly every day. Alameda, Oakland, and Berkeley offer a wide variety of parks to choose from. They come in all sizes from small neighborhood jungle gym like you find on Harbor Bay.
to large fields for organized sports—like Lincoln Park in Alameda and Montclair Park in Oakland—to the Tilden Park Little Farm in Berkeley. I thought the parks were just for little kids, but now that my kids are older, I know differently.
Parks are not just for slides and monkey bars. They offer older kids a place for meeting up and socializing. My 11-year-old loves to go to the park and meet up with her friends and often brings a soccer ball or volleyball with her. She’s there for hours—without any electronics. Being close to a park can be life changing. —Becky Cusack