Is it so bad living in a townhouse when you have kids?

[Anonymous]

Ridiculous. Neither type of house or an apartment is necessarily better or worse. You don't need to find another place to live; you need to find other coworkers to hang out with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a big deal. Compared to what some kids have, a townhouse is a castle. You probably will get the urge to find a bigger dwelling after the second kid, though.

I have two kids and neither seem to care. There are plenty of kids in our neighborhood.

I have three kids and we love living in a townhouse because of the sense of community. All the kids meet in the back where all the townhouses face and play together for hours every day. Big perk!

[Anonymous]

Just stop discussing this with your coworkers. It's none of their business. I'm sure there are plenty of things you disagree with and this is one of them. Focus on work.

[Anonymous]

I'm rearing three kids in a 4,000 sf house on three acres, and I love it, but there's a lot about townhouse living that I would appreciate.

I think it's important to be flexible and adaptable in most aspects of life. I never look favorably upon people who claim that they could *NEVER* live somewhere, or among different types of people, or change their lifestyle in any way. And obviously that works both ways, too, because you see that a lot on this board; i.e. "I would kill myself if I had to live in [suburb/rural area/whatever]."

[Anonymous]

Op, these people are trying to justify living in Prince William or Loudon and having horrific commutes.

I love my townhouse with two small kids 5 miles from the city. My sisters SFH is a tighter squeeze but w a better yard. We choose better inside space. Our TH has more closets and storage than her SFH. She does have a shed though which is nice.

[Anonymous]

Is this a serious question? Some kids live in apartments ya know; expensive ones at that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, these people are trying to justify living in Prince William or Loudon and having horrific commutes.

I love my townhouse with two small kids 5 miles from the city. My sisters SFH is a tighter squeeze but w a better yard. We choose better inside space. Our TH has more closets and storage than her SFH. She does have a shed though which is nice.

This.

[Anonymous]

Parks and playgrounds are so much better than yards anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this a serious question? Some kids live in apartments ya know; expensive ones at that!

I know! I said earlier that I lived in them (not expensive) until my oldest was 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parks and playgrounds are so much better than yards anyway.

I agree!

[Anonymous]

I live in a condo - I wonder what your coworkers would say about me? Although, we are blocks from the national mall, which she thinks is her own personal park.

[Anonymous]

We have a toddler and an infant in a mid-sized 3-storey townhouse in Petworth. Tiny front yard, rear deck. So far so good. Two keys to making this work. First, keep your house free of unnecessary junk and furniture. Our living room and basement are quite open (for example, no coffee table in the living room), and this adds to the overall sense of space and gives the toddler room to play in. Second, spend time outside when weather permits. We go to our neighborhood pocket park and nearby playground frequently, and sometimes just take a walk around the block. Young kids get absorbed pretty easily - it doesn't take anything fancy to keep them entertained for at least a little while. One last thing: Young kids need parental attention and care more than they need a large backyard, so if a townhome means a shorter commute and more family time than a SFH, then I think the trade-off is worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Raising kids in a condo and we own a sfh out of state for rental income. The parks by the condo are their playground. It works for us and people can say whatever they want. Sounds no -- I see no problem at all with a townhouse.

+1 Lived for 5 years with kids in a condo. We have a SFH with a yard now, I think we spent more time outdoors (at local parks etc.) when we had the condo. IMHO, there's a tendency to stay indoors when you have too much space at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a toddler and an infant in a mid-sized 3-storey townhouse in Petworth. Tiny front yard, rear deck. So far so good. Two keys to making this work. First, keep your house free of unnecessary junk and furniture. Our living room and basement are quite open (for example, no coffee table in the living room), and this adds to the overall sense of space and gives the toddler room to play in. Second, spend time outside when weather permits. We go to our neighborhood pocket park and nearby playground frequently, and sometimes just take a walk around the block. Young kids get absorbed pretty easily - it doesn't take anything fancy to keep them entertained for at least a little while. One last thing: Young kids need parental attention and care more than they need a large backyard, so if a townhome means a shorter commute and more family time than a SFH, then I think the trade-off is worth it.

Yes but schools and poor people. Has your son met the dope fiends and thugs that live in your hood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a toddler and an infant in a mid-sized 3-storey townhouse in Petworth. Tiny front yard, rear deck. So far so good. Two keys to making this work. First, keep your house free of unnecessary junk and furniture. Our living room and basement are quite open (for example, no coffee table in the living room), and this adds to the overall sense of space and gives the toddler room to play in. Second, spend time outside when weather permits. We go to our neighborhood pocket park and nearby playground frequently, and sometimes just take a walk around the block. Young kids get absorbed pretty easily - it doesn't take anything fancy to keep them entertained for at least a little while. One last thing: Young kids need parental attention and care more than they need a large backyard, so if a townhome means a shorter commute and more family time than a SFH, then I think the trade-off is worth it.

Yes but schools and poor people. Has your son met the dope fiends and thugs that live in your hood?

Could you just pretend that the PP had said Rosslyn or Ballston or Bethesda instead of Petworth, just so we can discuss house type and not race, class etc?