If you had the money, would you raise your kids in NYC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say yes except whe I was in college and early twenties and law school….I literally never liked any of my peers who grew up in NYC. None of them. They just weren’t nice. They were kinda haughty and full of themselves in a too cool for school way and weren’t friendly. I would not want my kids to be like that.

Oh my goodness, same. There was a girl from NYC who lived in my hall freshman year. I remember she went to Chapin. She literally would not even speak to her non rich friends. Would pretend she didn't see you when you said hi to her in the all. Didn't participate in any dorm events. It was bizarre.

She sounds horrible, but that's Chapin. Most new yorkers dont go to private school, let alone such an elite one.

First poster here. Maybe, but the NYCers I know have run the gamut. Chapin types, public schools like Sty and Bronx School of Science and Hunter College, kids from Washington Heights who went to public schools there, Prep for Prep. They just….aren’t nice.

Ok actually I can think of one Prep for Prep kid who went to a rural boarding school who was nice. But I think she spent a lot of her childhood in Puerto Rico.

We are just different kind of nice. Low tolerance for BS and all.

Low tolerance for bs can also mean rude

[Anonymous]

Yes, if you count Brooklyn as NYC. We actually did that - a family of 5 in an apartment; two of the kids already left the nest. But if we had more money, it would be even more fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are and we love it. One kid, private school, big brownstone, and the city at our feet. Crazy expensive but worth it if you can swing it.

This is my life in DC. Big row home with plenty of outdoor space, one kid, private school, quiet neighborhood. You couldn’t pay me to live in New York.

No. I love dc, but unfortunately our row home in the city (Shaw is not quiet and there’s plenty of crime. Went to college and grad school in nyc in the 90s and agree it’s gone way down, but dc is plenty loud in the city parts. I love visiting nyc. Brooklyn doesn’t do it for me.

[Anonymous]

IMO it’s no way for a kid to grow up. They need air and sunlight and grass and trees and silence.

[Anonymous]

I’m someone who was born there who said no way. To explain why, first of all in general I prefer the west coast, although I do love DC and parts of New England. But second of all, I just don’t like the relentless focus on money in NYC. It is an area that is hyper focused on wealth in a way I’ve found nowhere else in the world except China. I find it suffocating. Finally, I hate how dirty I feel after spending a day there. Idk of there is a fine layer of dust that covers everything or what, but in no other major cities do I so strongly feel that I have to strip down and shower immediately after coming in from the outdoors. I just feel physically gross there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I won the Powerball lottery today and had $500M in the bank, I would NEVER even consider living in NYC. It smells like pee, is covered in rats, overrun with trash, has terrible city management, has failing infrastructure, and the crime is uncontrolled. Just no.

Let me think again...

Not even if you paid me to do it.

This, plus air pollution.

NO!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m someone who was born there who said no way. To explain why, first of all in general I prefer the west coast, although I do love DC and parts of New England. But second of all, I just don’t like the relentless focus on money in NYC. It is an area that is hyper focused on wealth in a way I’ve found nowhere else in the world except China. I find it suffocating. Finally, I hate how dirty I feel after spending a day there. Idk of there is a fine layer of dust that covers everything or what, but in no other major cities do I so strongly feel that I have to strip down and shower immediately after coming in from the outdoors. I just feel physically gross there.

Where in the city were you born and where did you grow up? As others have pointed out, there's a real Manhattan vs the rest of the city disconnect here. I'm not sure whether op was only really asking about Manhattan but as a non Manhattan new Yorker it's really hard to convey here how unfamiliar so many of these responses sound vs my actual lived experiences raising a family here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer would have been yes for so long but I think it might be shifting. After I turned 40 I just started to crave nature more and more, I'm not sure if weekends and vacations and walks in the park would cut it for me. Even DC, where nature is pretty accessible, sometimes feels too urban for me these days.

The museums and restaurants and theater and dance might still be enough to sway me though. With a place upstate.

Yes! In my 20s, I loved urban noise. The movement, energy, and vibe of big cities was so exciting. Now in my 40s, I crave green space, trees, and nature. I love the serenity and quiet of the suburbs, and there are so many big, beautiful tress where we live here in FFX. I don't find the stress of cities appealing anymore. Maybe because my life is more stressful? But now I rarely ever go to DC (why?) and usually just escape with the kids further into nature.

Some place like NYC would be a living hell. But, if I had the money, I'd absolutely buy a summer vacation home in Switzerland.

[Anonymous]

If it was a large million dollar brownstone with good schools at a walking distance (like the family from the Wonder book), maybe. But I like being able to jump in my car and go anywhere. If we lived in NYC it would be very difficult to leave the city on a impromptu road trip. Not to mention I want my kids to learn how to drive when they're sixteen, not thirty. Honestly I'd get tired of the constant hubbub of the city.

If I was single in Manhattan and it was only for a year or two, sure.

[Anonymous]

Hell no

[Anonymous]

I lived there as a young kid and again for many many years from young to mid-adulthood and LOVED IT. Moved only under duress b/c my partner had to move for work.

But, not sure now what I'd do. Going back, I feel overwhelmed the first few days but also then find my spots and groove and love it again.

My biggest worry would be my kids growing up too fast. I had a LOT of freedom there very young. I don't think my own kids would thrive with that necessarily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, never, ever. I lived in NYC and for awhile and always felt claustrophobic there. Love all that the city has to offer, but I guess I’m a country mouse at heart.

I went to law school at Columbia and felt the same way. It was like everything was closing in on me, and it was hard to escape.

(I also thought that that a lot of the kids from NYC were not nice and some of them were weirdly provincial. They had never left the city and seemed to think the rest of the country existed to supply NYC with resources, like the districts in the Hunger Games. I told one of my classmates that I was looking at joining a law firm in Cleveland, and he told me that he didn’t realize that I was interested in “farm law”).

[Anonymous]

It would be hard for me to make that switch because our currently neighborhood ( in Fairfax County ) is a place where my 8-year-old can play out with friends after dark, and I even let her walk my 2-year-old around without my supervision. I don't think that would ever be a situation I could be comfortable with in NYC, even out in Brooklyn or Queens. I really value nature and places with low crime. That's just me. But I also understand why, if you have enough money, it's a lovely place to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say yes except whe I was in college and early twenties and law school….I literally never liked any of my peers who grew up in NYC. None of them. They just weren’t nice. They were kinda haughty and full of themselves in a too cool for school way and weren’t friendly. I would not want my kids to be like that.

Oh my goodness, same. There was a girl from NYC who lived in my hall freshman year. I remember she went to Chapin. She literally would not even speak to her non rich friends. Would pretend she didn't see you when you said hi to her in the all. Didn't participate in any dorm events. It was bizarre.

Exactly! I felt the same about a few kids in college. First job out of school was finance in ny. The natives were the worst. Not nearly as smart as they thought they were, treated staff like garbage, etc.

[Anonymous]

Not even if you paid me.