Has anyone w/ kids chosen to leave NoVA for DC?

[Anonymous]

We did, as soon as our first was school aged. We lived in the Taylor school district and thought the classes were much too large. We were not at all enamored of the middle or high school either. We like H-B Woodlawn but we not about to risk that working out. We knew we wanted our kids in private school and so we moved back to DC, NWDC and our kids are now in middle school and upper elementary. We are VERY VERY happy with our decision. Our life is much better than it would have been had we stayed in North Arlington. Our kids are doing exceptionally well and love their schools.

Oh, and we have friends who did the same thing last year (also from N Arlington, also with all their kids in DC privates) and they are kicking themselves that they waited so long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did, as soon as our first was school aged. We lived in the Taylor school district and thought the classes were much too large. We were not at all enamored of the middle or high school either. We like H-B Woodlawn but we not about to risk that working out. We knew we wanted our kids in private school and so we moved back to DC, NWDC and our kids are now in middle school and upper elementary. We are VERY VERY happy with our decision. Our life is much better than it would have been had we stayed in North Arlington. Our kids are doing exceptionally well and love their schools.

Oh, and we have friends who did the same thing last year (also from N Arlington, also with all their kids in DC privates) and they are kicking themselves that they waited so long.

OP here. PP, you are EXACTLY the type of person I had in mind. I'm curious - why do you consider your life (and your friends' lives) so much better now? To play devil's advocate, you could have easily commuted w/ your kids to their DC private and still enjoyed living in N. Arlington, right? I'd love to hear what makes you so confident that it was the best move!

[Anonymous]

For several reasons.
1.) Our NWDC neighborhood is much prettier and more charming.
2.). Our kids' activities/sports/clubs are all in DC or MD. Their friends who do live in NVA have to deal with that and it is a pain.
3.). While our kids do have some friends who live in NVA, the vast majo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did, as soon as our first was school aged. We lived in the Taylor school district and thought the classes were much too large. We were not at all enamored of the middle or high school either. We like H-B Woodlawn but we not about to risk that working out. We knew we wanted our kids in private school and so we moved back to DC, NWDC and our kids are now in middle school and upper elementary. We are VERY VERY happy with our decision. Our life is much better than it would have been had we stayed in North Arlington. Our kids are doing exceptionally well and love their schools.

Oh, and we have friends who did the same thing last year (also from N Arlington, also with all their kids in DC privates) and they are kicking themselves that they waited so long.

OP here. PP, you are EXACTLY the type of person I had in mind. I'm curious - why do you consider your life (and your friends' lives) so much better now? To play devil's advocate, you could have easily commuted w/ your kids to their DC private and still enjoyed living in N. Arlington, right? I'd love to hear what makes you so confident that it was the best move!

The fact it took nine hours for someone fitting your criteria to surface ought to tell you something. A post asking about anyone with kids choosing to leave DC for NoVa would have taken 10 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did, as soon as our first was school aged. We lived in the Taylor school district and thought the classes were much too large. We were not at all enamored of the middle or high school either. We like H-B Woodlawn but we not about to risk that working out. We knew we wanted our kids in private school and so we moved back to DC, NWDC and our kids are now in middle school and upper elementary. We are VERY VERY happy with our decision. Our life is much better than it would have been had we stayed in North Arlington. Our kids are doing exceptionally well and love their schools.

Oh, and we have friends who did the same thing last year (also from N Arlington, also with all their kids in DC privates) and they are kicking themselves that they waited so long.

OP here. PP, you are EXACTLY the type of person I had in mind. I'm curious - why do you consider your life (and your friends' lives) so much better now? To play devil's advocate, you could have easily commuted w/ your kids to their DC private and still enjoyed living in N. Arlington, right? I'd love to hear what makes you so confident that it was the best move!

Got it OP, you wanted white people who moved from a white are in VA to a white area in DC.

Why didn't you just post that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Again, I don't claim to speak for all of Alexandria or all of the experiences of people living in Alexandria and why they want to live there or leave. In our neighborhood, there was very little diversity. Everyone was white, everyone was upper middle class and most people were born in Virginia or somewhere close by. That was not something we were interested in growing our child around. Also, all the families were typical one father/one mother families. I wanted to expose my child to a more diverse way of thinking about people.

In our neighborhood now, of her four best friends, only one was actually born in this country. All speak different languages at home and on any given day, she is learning different cultures. Color is not as important to me as is the fact that she learns about the world outside of her own.

This was the best choice for our small family of 3, your family may have made a better choice - and that is great. There is no reason why all of our families can't be happy with our choices.

It still seems like a contradiction to say you lived in Alexandria because it was "cheap" and then complain about the fact that everyone was upper middle class and white. Maybe all you meant to say was that you found a good deal on a rental in an upper-income area.

Which is fine, but a single expensive neighborhood in Alexandria provides no basis for generalizations about the diversity in NoVa. It would be no different than generalizing about DC based on having lived a few months in either Spring Valley or Anacostia.

As I've said, multiple times, I can't speak for all of Alexandria or DC, I can only speak (I will use all caps so you won't miss my message) FOR MY FAMILY.

This is what I found to be true. I'm not generalizing anything, it's a very small sample size of one family. Get defensive as you want. One family of one story as the OP requested. Data on the # of Africans living in Alexandria or the # of ethnic food choices in VA does not change "why I moved from VA to DC" which is the title of this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For several reasons.
1.) Our NWDC neighborhood is much prettier and more charming.
2.). Our kids' activities/sports/clubs are all in DC or MD. Their friends who do live in NVA have to deal with that and it is a pain.
3.). While our kids do have some friends who live in NVA, the vast majo

Sorry, accidentally hit send.
Here is my whole answer.

For several reasons:
1.) Our NWDC neighborhood is much prettier and more charming.
2.). Our kids' activities/sports/clubs are all in DC or MD. Their friends who do live in NVA have to deal with that and it is a pain.
3.). While our kids do have some friends who live in NVA, the vast majority live in NWDC or MD. They have as many friends in PG County as they do in VA. Yes, we go to all these friends houses but those kids, and their parents love when we have their kids sleep over here on Friday nights. It makes life much easier for weekend activities.
4.). While we sold our N Arlington home for more than twice what we paid for it, our DC house is much nicer and worth more now than that house is.
5.). Our neighborhood is much more diverse. Its not just about the whiteness of it. In N Arlington we felt like everyone one was sooooo similar and if you didn't do/believe/say what everyone else did, you were interrogated and grilled as to why. That was very clear when neighbors found out we were going to send our first child to private school.
6.). Where we live now there are kids that go to lots of different types of schools: public, private, charter, Catholic.
7.). It's great that I know how to get around in, and lots of the best places in, all three areas: DC, MD, and NoVa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did, as soon as our first was school aged. We lived in the Taylor school district and thought the classes were much too large. We were not at all enamored of the middle or high school either. We like H-B Woodlawn but we not about to risk that working out. We knew we wanted our kids in private school and so we moved back to DC, NWDC and our kids are now in middle school and upper elementary. We are VERY VERY happy with our decision. Our life is much better than it would have been had we stayed in North Arlington. Our kids are doing exceptionally well and love their schools.

Oh, and we have friends who did the same thing last year (also from N Arlington, also with all their kids in DC privates) and they are kicking themselves that they waited so long.

OP here. PP, you are EXACTLY the type of person I had in mind. I'm curious - why do you consider your life (and your friends' lives) so much better now? To play devil's advocate, you could have easily commuted w/ your kids to their DC private and still enjoyed living in N. Arlington, right? I'd love to hear what makes you so confident that it was the best move!

Got it OP, you wanted white people who moved from a white are in VA to a white area in DC.

Why didn't you just post that?

Ugh, PP. I understand why you wrote this and it does seem like it. 20:08 here. Yes, we are white. Our N Arlington neighborhood was mostly white, I think it was all white actually. We never felt comfortable there but you would think, based on our appearances, that we fit in just great. I know it isn't the same but, you know appearances and how others judge one's, often mean very little. Our NWDC neighborhood is not all white. Its got the whole rainbow plus. We really do fit in, appearances notwithstanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did, as soon as our first was school aged. We lived in the Taylor school district and thought the classes were much too large. We were not at all enamored of the middle or high school either. We like H-B Woodlawn but we not about to risk that working out. We knew we wanted our kids in private school and so we moved back to DC, NWDC and our kids are now in middle school and upper elementary. We are VERY VERY happy with our decision. Our life is much better than it would have been had we stayed in North Arlington. Our kids are doing exceptionally well and love their schools.

Oh, and we have friends who did the same thing last year (also from N Arlington, also with all their kids in DC privates) and they are kicking themselves that they waited so long.

OP here. PP, you are EXACTLY the type of person I had in mind. I'm curious - why do you consider your life (and your friends' lives) so much better now? To play devil's advocate, you could have easily commuted w/ your kids to their DC private and still enjoyed living in N. Arlington, right? I'd love to hear what makes you so confident that it was the best move!

Got it OP, you wanted white people who moved from a white are in VA to a white area in DC.

Why didn't you just post that?

Ugh, PP. I understand why you wrote this and it does seem like it. 20:08 here. Yes, we are white. Our N Arlington neighborhood was mostly white, I think it was all white actually. We never felt comfortable there but you would think, based on our appearances, that we fit in just great. I know it isn't the same but, you know appearances and how others judge one's, often mean very little. Our NWDC neighborhood is not all white. Its got the whole rainbow plus. We really do fit in, appearances notwithstanding.

And OP here. The kicker is that I am African American. So is DH. Go figure that one out.

[Anonymous]

This whole thread needs to be posted on "stuff white people like"............its almost comical

"Oh, no judgement for YOU but WE want our child to be blah blah blah"

DC is not NYC, a lot of it is pretty damn suburban. Here's a novel idea, have diverse friends- the kids will be exposed from birth.

[Anonymous]

OP again. I was REALLY hoping this thread wouldn't turn into one about race (which is why I didn't disclose mine in my original post). But since it obviously has, here it goes:

DH and I want to send our kids to a top school that is both high performing and diverse (yes, for us personally, "diverse" means a fair % of AAs). We've taken a look at a lot of the NoVA pyramids and can't really seem to find anything that fits the bill. (Please enlighten us if you know of one.) So that led us to privates, which -- quite intentionally -- have better numbers. Then we were thinking, if we're sending them to private school in NW, and I work downtown (DH works near Tyson's), why don't we just move back to DC and call it a day.

We're good on the diverse friends front, so that's not an issue. The concern is rooted in schools.

If you have anything to contribute with that in mind, great. But please, spare me the race relations lectures. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
As I've said, multiple times, I can't speak for all of Alexandria or DC, I can only speak (I will use all caps so you won't miss my message) FOR MY FAMILY.

This is what I found to be true. I'm not generalizing anything, it's a very small sample size of one family. Get defensive as you want. One family of one story as the OP requested. Data on the # of Africans living in Alexandria or the # of ethnic food choices in VA does not change "why I moved from VA to DC" which is the title of this thread.

Fine, but your first post was snarky and misleading. If you are speaking for your family, the take-away is that your family is a bunch of pretentious twits.

[Anonymous]

OP, a long-time DC resident here. While I live in Gtown for many years, about 7 years ago I moved to what would be considered a "transitional" area and very diverse. After the birth of our daughter, we decided to move, which was/is v. painful for me. We don't live in upper NW, we are truly downtown. 1) the ability to have a car is very complicated, costly and difficult. With a child now, we definitely need a car. While we currently use Uber/Zipcar, it's just a PIA with carseats, etc. 2) When we really looked at various private schools in DC, we concluded that the vast majority of them (not the elites) were really just average schools. So, $30k for an average school just wasn't worth it. 3) In our neighborhood (not the white part of DC), there are certain city services that are not guaranteed. We were very concerned that if we needed an ambulance, it was not a given that we were going to get one in our neighborhood. Yes, it has happened to many of our neighbors. 4) While we are very tolerant of others' lifestyles (ie drug use, prostitution, etc), that was not something we wanted our daughter exposed to every day. 5) While there are lots of thugs walking around us daily, I was seriously concerned about their thug dogs (pitbulls), who *seem* dangerous, especially with a young child. So, sorry for the long post - but that is why we are high-tailing it to N. Arlington where we are building. Yes, we could afford NW DC -but our commute times to Penn Quarter where we work would be just as long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did, as soon as our first was school aged. We lived in the Taylor school district and thought the classes were much too large. We were not at all enamored of the middle or high school either. We like H-B Woodlawn but we not about to risk that working out. We knew we wanted our kids in private school and so we moved back to DC, NWDC and our kids are now in middle school and upper elementary. We are VERY VERY happy with our decision. Our life is much better than it would have been had we stayed in North Arlington. Our kids are doing exceptionally well and love their schools.

Oh, and we have friends who did the same thing last year (also from N Arlington, also with all their kids in DC privates) and they are kicking themselves that they waited so long.

OP here. PP, you are EXACTLY the type of person I had in mind. I'm curious - why do you consider your life (and your friends' lives) so much better now? To play devil's advocate, you could have easily commuted w/ your kids to their DC private and still enjoyed living in N. Arlington, right? I'd love to hear what makes you so confident that it was the best move!

The fact it took nine hours for someone fitting your criteria to surface ought to tell you something. A post asking about anyone with kids choosing to leave DC for NoVa would have taken 10 minutes.

Maybe it is because people who live in DC do have a live and don't waste too much time on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As I've said, multiple times, I can't speak for all of Alexandria or DC, I can only speak (I will use all caps so you won't miss my message) FOR MY FAMILY.

This is what I found to be true. I'm not generalizing anything, it's a very small sample size of one family. Get defensive as you want. One family of one story as the OP requested. Data on the # of Africans living in Alexandria or the # of ethnic food choices in VA does not change "why I moved from VA to DC" which is the title of this thread.

Fine, but your first post was snarky and misleading. If you are speaking for your family, the take-away is that your family is a bunch of pretentious twits.

Whatever you infer from several lines of text about my life, I can't help. I try to get to know people a little better before judging them.