city vs. suburbs -- what's your take?
in our house we;re debating the merits of having a backyard versus the evils (and expenses!) of having to own a car.
heres (roughly) the 2 sides of the debate, forum link at bottom:
"(going to the suburbs) it's like, who sucked the life out of the air, and what did they do with the people??? Yards are nice, but a playground you can walk to -- not to mention some ethnic eats and a handful of bars -- makes life more entertaining for everybody, I think."
"If you stay in the city with kids, you graduate to a different phase -- more dinner parties and kid focussed activities, punctuated with the book readings and art openings (a few times a year in my case but still the presence of the possibility makes a diffference to me) that i always enjoyed."
or
"My husband and I both grew up with back yards to play in and the relative safety of a neighborhood full of kids. I would LOVE for Jillian to have that kind of wild and free childhood and not have to rely on "playdates" and structured play areas."
"You can always drive into the city, or stay with friends there. I would sorely miss the spur of the moment ability to go see a band-- but I dream of a yard with kiddie pool, barbecues, and beer......."
http://www.babble.com/CS/forums/1/982/ShowThread.aspx
posted by bb @ 2:49 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
we like this one:
"I think we could all make do with a little less personal space, and a little more personal interaction."...plus a yard ;-))
yeah, interaction in the yard!
well, it sounds to me like you are leaning towards the city rather than the burbs, and with all due respect I have to disagree.
for me, that decision would be based on whether I wanted a lifestyle centered around children or one centered around grown-ups. I've lived in the burbs (Katy, Pasadena, Pearland, Spring Branch) and I've lived downtown (and watched families who lived downtown). I've never lived without a car/station wagon/minivan.
seems to me that the yard and the good schools and the non-contrived and non-structured play groups that spring up in the burbs would be head-and-shoulders above having to get on the phone to arrange play dates for kids. much less having to load up a stroller, backpack, bicycle, car, whatever to get to the play date. (I'm talking everyday routine here, not the once-or-twice a week structured play groups like mother's day out; I loved those)
back yards filled with toys of my own choosing and kept clean and maintained in my own way, running around in that yard in pajamas, cooking/grilling having a party in that back yard, etc. all seem preferable to pushing a stroller and/or navigating children through traffic to the nearest green spot. traffic on main street is more dangerous than traffic on maple lane no matter how many crosswalks there are.
and schools! don't even get me started.
I can understand why the breadwinner of the family might not want to spend hours in a commute every day, and I can understand that the grownups might miss the easily-accessible downtown night life, etc, but for me it goes back to the question of lifestyle.
goodness, I didn't know I had so much to say on this subject.
I've always lived in the city, New York, Houston now Chicago. I have trouble imagining a burb life even with a kid on the way.
We always had kids around though. Lots of kids on our block in Queens and in Houston we lived in West U which is a lot like the suburbs but your just a jog from the Village and Rice University.
I find the security of the burbs to be a farce especially as it pertains to juvenile behavior.
If you can find a way to live in the city but in an area with young families that would definitely be the way to go I would think.
My dos pesos.
Consider yourself SOOO fortunate to reside in a metropolitan area that has excellent public mass transit system, that you're even faced with this choice..
In my town, it's almost necessary to own a car, even if you choose to live downtown. Our "mass-transit" system is very small. There are very few routes and none of them run 24 hours. The only other option to buying a car around here, is to use a taxi.. And that's very expensive.
I wasn't thrilled to move to the suburbs some time ago, but it's grown on me. Our choice was made for practical reasons, our commute to work is much lighter. No, we don't have local 'flavor' but we've always been happy to make the effort to drive to our entertainment rather than live right in the middle of it.
--CEL
you know, i'd say either raise a child in the boondocks or the city. both foster independence and creativity, in my opinion. i also read a couple of years ago that living in a big city actually leaves a smaller ecological footprint.
i agree with kilian on the safety issue. i went to clear creek high school--doesn't get much 'burbier than that--and i can say that the kids are just as naughty from the cul-de-sac as they are from the hood. i'm hoping to put our kid in montessori or a waldorf school, at least for the first few years.
at any rate, i guess what matters in the end is creative and compassionate parenting.
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