Are your kids bored in the suburbs?

[Anonymous]

My suburban kids get bored. Many of my DD’s friends do sports and can’t socialize, and her other friends have helicopter parents who don’t let them do XYZ. And her other friends live 25 minutes away and no one will give her a ride. So, socializing can be difficult.

As long as there are available kids and friends nearby it’s impossible to be bored. But if those kids are always tied up and busy, then.....

[Anonymous]

I lived in Paris and spent my adolescence at home reading books. I could have done that anywhere

My kids live in Bethesda, a pleasant suburb close to DC, and they spend their lives indoors as well, reading and playing video games.

I think the only difference is being able to choose more/better extra-curriculars, since traffic isn't as horrendous as in busy metropoles. There are some things you can't reach by metro when kids are little.

[Anonymous]

Not all suburbs are created equal.

If you are in a train adjacent suburb with a cute 'downtown" where the kids can walk/bike and hang out, and they age, take the train into the city, then that is great.

if you are a cul-de-sac hellscape with no walkability and nothing to do, then that would be a downgrade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A suburb that has things you can walk/bike to or has decent public transit is very different than a really sprawling suburb that is highly car dependent.

Kids who want to find trouble will find it in any setting.

I grew up in suburban NY and then suburban Philly, right by trains to both, and we almost never bothered to go in except for a few concerts once people had their licenses. There was enough stuff to do at home.

You lived by a train in suburban NY but had to wait to get drivers’ licenses to go to concerts?

We moved to the Philly suburbs when I was 15. I wasn't allowed to go into NY at night without parents when I was 15. The concert venues in Philly were much easier to get to by car than by train.

[Anonymous]

I loved growing up in the burbs - and I grew up in Greenwich! I spent a lot of my time at dance and wouldn’t give that up for the world but I loved hanging out in our basement or the backyard with friends, playing ping pong or swimming in the pool or watching movies. I have so many fond memories of pasta parties with friends before cross country meets and walking down Greenwich Ave going for crepes or coffee or hanging in the commons. We spent a lot of time at our tennis club too which was really fun and Todd’s point is just wonderful. There’s a concession stand there and a bunch of tables right on the beach and if you go on a Friday or Saturday night in the summer, you’ll see lots of teens there. We also used to bike to the port where you can catch a boat to Island Beach. I haven’t been in a while but it’s lovely and lots of people would bring stuff to grill and it was always a fun day. We also went to the city a lot. The express trains from Greenwich station are 45 minutes to Grand Central and many houses are walkable or bikeable to the station. We all had monthly passes so it was fun! We tried to get into bars and make in on the last train back And one of the best things about growing up there was that it was completely normal to go into the city for dinner and a Broadway show or to the see the ballet after school. Highly recommend the area!

[Anonymous]

No. Not bored. My high schoolers are so busy with school activities. They can walk, ride bikes and now can drive.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in suburban NY (Long Island) and besides sports, I found the suburbs stifling and boring.

Thank God I was a half hour train ride to the city, and ended up there most weekends.

Looking back the suburbs were a great safe place to grow up -- get summer jobs, local pool, great libraries, great sports.

Now I live in the DC burbs. My teens don't seem as bored and restless as I did. They play sports, are very involved in school extras, friends in the neighborhood and go into DC or Bethesda regularly. DC is a much more manageable city, IMO, and they love exploring it.

[Anonymous]

I think it also depends on the age of the terns too. Young teens 13, 14 or even 15 to me, your still a kid I wouldn't think it would be hard for them to entertain themselves. Older teens 16 or so, I could see them getting any and wanting to go out more.

[Anonymous]

depends on your kid more than anything else.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in DC in the 1990s. My impression was that there was a lot more drug and alcohol use on the suburbs where kids would throw parties or just sit around peoples basements etc getting high or drunk because they had nothing better to do.

My friends and I could easily go out to dinner, movies, concerts, shopping, museums, etc.

From what I have heard the nyc private school party scene is pretty crazy and drug ridden.

[Anonymous]

I moved from NYC to LA (which is basically the suburbs) in high school and I was bored. Having to coordinate rides to get places was so tedious and annoying, and I had no interest in "playing" in the backyard which was beautiful. I was not involved in sports and even the stuff I was involved in required a lot of carpooling and coordinating rides. The idea that I constantly had to ask for rides and get adults involved seemed totally ridiculous to me. I felt like I spent so much time waiting around for someone to drive me somewhere.

Had I lived in like, Idaho or someplace REALLY suburban I'd probably have run away. I was the type of kid going to a museum or event every week. If all there was to do was going to various friends houses or tip cows, I'd have been totally miserable.

[Anonymous]

there is a lot between nyc and cow tipping

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I moved from NYC to LA (which is basically the suburbs) in high school and I was bored. Having to coordinate rides to get places was so tedious and annoying, and I had no interest in "playing" in the backyard which was beautiful. I was not involved in sports and even the stuff I was involved in required a lot of carpooling and coordinating rides. The idea that I constantly had to ask for rides and get adults involved seemed totally ridiculous to me. I felt like I spent so much time waiting around for someone to drive me somewhere.

Had I lived in like, Idaho or someplace REALLY suburban I'd probably have run away. I was the type of kid going to a museum or event every week. If all there was to do was going to various friends houses or tip cows, I'd have been totally miserable.

See it's so interesting to me how teens are so different. When I was a young teen my friends and i were definitely still interested in playing outsode. Not baby things, but we still like riding bikes and skateboards, pickup sports and our fave in the summer was big neighborhood night games. It's so interesting to me that some kids outgrow that so young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:there is a lot between nyc and cow tipping

You know, honestly as a teenager I preferred living in a rural environment to the suburbs. The suburban activities consisted of the mall and the lake. At least with rural I got four wheeling, riding horses (for cheap), snowmobiling, stargazing, and wandering off in nature whenever I felt like it.

It still sucked though. I’m a city person through and through.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids don't get bored in the suburbs. But they do get into trouble of the sort that most parents will never know about. And parents who think "not MY kids" are in denial. Most end up fine in the end, though -- like kids everywhere.

I got bored as hell in the suburbs and that is why I did drugs. It was boring before the drugs and boring after the high came down.

All the drugs did something to your critical thinking skills.