I live in a suburb in the Netherlands and recently visited a school friend who now lives in a nice US suburb. We both have families with kids about the same age. We compared our living conditions.<p>His beautiful wooden house stands on ten times the area as mine, with a very nice garden and ample parking space. It looks very nice. But my concrete&#x2F;brick house is bigger inside, and much better constructed. Parking space for visitors can be an issue with me.<p>Our kids go to school by bike. His kids can&#x27;t. Although the school is not far, biking is too unsafe. They go by bus. The school even closes when there is snow, because that would make even the bus too unsafe!<p>Our kids play in the street with their friends, they walk up to each others houses spontaneously when they want to play. My friends&#x27; kids had fewer friends, had to set playdates, and played more online.<p>The conversation we had confirmed many more things from the article.