Toddler-dense (or just kid-dense) neighborhoods

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi! My family moved to the area last year and will likely be buying a home in the next several years. We are currently in southwest Silver Spring near Rock Creek Forest elementary school, at the border of Silver Spring, Chevy Chase, and DC. We chose the area because it is a reasonable commute, good access to Silver Spring and Bethesda amenities as well as DC, and near Rock Creek Park. And great schools!

But oddly, there are surprisingly few young kids near us. Yes, there are some, but most of the single-family homes around here are occupied by long-time owners with high school or college kids (or beyond), and many of the condos/apartments/townhouses are on the smaller side (1-2 bedrooms) and occupied by either young couples or retired people, and the young couples tend to move away when they have kids. We have been told it's because the apartments are too small to be comfortable once people have kids, and it's so expensive around here that young families can't afford places in the neighborhood with enough space to be comfortable. (Our 2 br+den is more than enough space for myself+husband+daughter so we are fine with the real estate around here, but most housing nearby is either much larger or significantly smaller than our place so I can see why others struggle, and anyway, as I say, regardless of the reason there really just aren't a lot of other families with young kids.)

Both my husband and I grew up in neighborhoods with a bunch of kids, including several kids near our own age within a block or two, and we really want that for our daughter. We are likely to be moving in the next couple of years and are hoping to find a super kid-filled, warm and vibrant neighborhood. Price, schools, walkability, and proximity to DC may ultimately be factors for us, but I'd like to set those aside for now and just focus on what neighborhoods are overrun with kids (and ideally really friendly as well). We are open to MD, VA, and DC.

I think what we're looking for likely often depends on the very specific micro-location, so if you can be as granular as possible about specific subdivisions/cross-streets/etc that fit the bill rather than broader generalizations about cities, I would really appreciate it. Also, the more recent your intel, the better. Thank you so much!

Woodacres in Bethesda

[Anonymous]

I’ll say that a neighborhood may be teeming with toddlers but in certain parts of DC the families will start moving away because they don’t have desirable lottery results and middle school is looming.

[Anonymous]

Ingleside Terrace in Mount Pleasant DC is little kid central, plus backs onto an alley to play in, right next to rock creek and also the elementary school
Playground. Neighborhood feeds into Deal and Jackson Reed.

[Anonymous]

East Bethesda

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll say that a neighborhood may be teeming with toddlers but in certain parts of DC the families will start moving away because they don’t have desirable lottery results and middle school is looming.

Yes. It’s also hard to build community bc even if the IB ES is fine, the MS often isn’t and people love when the oldest turns 11.

[Anonymous]

River Falls (Potomac 20854)
larger homes mean tons of kids with a popular community swim/tennis club

MCPS cluster is CarderockSprings/Pyle/Whitman
But it is my impression that about 1/3 families do public, 1/3 private, and 1/3 Catholic

I raised my three kids River Falls adjacent and belonged to the pool. Huge Halloween neighborhood festivities as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How far out are you willing to go? Fort Hunt, Virginia (Alexandria mailing address, but actually Fairfax County) is full of kids. In our neighborhood virtually every house has children, and they are always running between houses, riding bikes, and playing basketball. Very safe and little traffic. Most parents seem to feel comfortable letting young kids walk to school on their own. Everyone socializes at the neighborhood pool club. Great area for trick-or-treating. Lots of communities like that around here. 15 minutes to Old Town for access to restaurants and shops. Commute to DC would be at least 30 minutes, but driving the GW Parkway is generally not too bad.

Not OP, but interested in the Fort Hunt area. How are the public schools? We're currently in Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How far out are you willing to go? Fort Hunt, Virginia (Alexandria mailing address, but actually Fairfax County) is full of kids. In our neighborhood virtually every house has children, and they are always running between houses, riding bikes, and playing basketball. Very safe and little traffic. Most parents seem to feel comfortable letting young kids walk to school on their own. Everyone socializes at the neighborhood pool club. Great area for trick-or-treating. Lots of communities like that around here. 15 minutes to Old Town for access to restaurants and shops. Commute to DC would be at least 30 minutes, but driving the GW Parkway is generally not too bad.

Not OP, but interested in the Fort Hunt area. How are the public schools? We're currently in Alexandria.

I’m the poster who lives in Fort Hunt. My kids aren’t in school yet, but most of our neighbors send their kids to public school and they seem really happy with the education their kids are getting. If you read the FCPS forum you’ll see lots of complaints, but in person I’ve only heard good things. We were in Alexandria before, but I wasn’t comfortable sending my kids to ACPS, which was one of the reasons we moved to Fairfax. One of my kids has special needs, and Fairfax is just set up better to help them. The early intervention services we get through Fairfax are much better than we were getting in Alexandria. Fairfax just seems like a much more organized system overall.

[Anonymous]

My neighborhood in Mount Rainier is absolutely teeming with babies and toddlers. There seem to be somewhat fewer older kids.

It could be a demographic bulge (I know the neighborhood K classes are huge this year) or it could be because people move as their kids get older for better public schools and/or biggger houses. I don’t know.

But if you have a toddler, it’s really wonderful.

[Anonymous]

Our neighborhood in VA had a lot of toddlers. And within a few years many of them left. People left to look for better schools or to settle into a larger house before Kindergarten started. I wouldn't base where you live off what the current demographics are. This area is too transient.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My neighborhood in Mount Rainier is absolutely teeming with babies and toddlers. There seem to be somewhat fewer older kids.

It could be a demographic bulge (I know the neighborhood K classes are huge this year) or it could be because people move as their kids get older for better public schools and/or biggger houses. I don’t know.

But if you have a toddler, it’s really wonderful.

Agree on all of this!

[Anonymous]

alta vista or wyngate in bethesda-- sooo many toddlers we run into on walks/at the playground

[Anonymous]

If you’re already in a neighborhood with great schools I wouldn’t move. Neighbors come and go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid goes to a daycare in Silver Spring, in a neighborhood zoned to Northwood high school. Tenbrook Drive, Dennis Avenue and such. Most of the daycare families live in the immediate neighborhood and plan to go to the local schools. Forest Glen metro is right there and the SFH are small but priced around $650k.

We are in the same neighborhood and go to the same daycare. We are south of Dennis and very close to Sligo creek park. It is a great neighborhood with tons of young kids.

[Anonymous]

+1 on Mount Pleasant in DC. Halloween party on Lamont Street is epic and fun for whole family. Tons of kids and feeds into probably DCPS best high school.