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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people seem to get their ideas of nyc from movies and TV.

We live in NYC, but in a quiet corner with a lot of international neighbors and several nearby parks. Middle or upper middle class. Kids are in public school, which they love and is much more rigorous than their DC area school. The kids actually seem more innocent than in DC - our 5th grader still pretend plays with her friends in the garden area of our apartment building. They have a whole gnome village hidden in the plants. They spend hours there, and the doormen keep their secret.

The adults in NYC are not obsessed with status or what colleges they went to, unlike when we were in DC. I know what college every single person I know in DC went to, but I have no idea where our friends in nyc went to college (although a lot are international so it would be meaningless to me anyway). People do talk incessantly about real estate though. That gets old.

Also, people here keep saying at NYC is dysfunctional. When comparing NYC to DC, this is not our experience at all. DC was pretty dysfunctional, too, and not as safe as our neighborhood in NYC.

This has to be the biggest joke ever.

Nope. I live in NYC and it truly can be like this. If you’ve never lived here, you just don’t know. Visiting Times Square several times doesn’t make you familiar with NYC.

It sounds like anywhere though. I used to live in an UMC neighborhood in a rural area with a lot of doctors and engineers here on J-1 visas. The kids played in the creek. We had to do a little fanangling with school and had kind of a mix of public school and homeschool co-op.
Why deal with all of the hassle and expense of NYC to have a midwestern life?

We deal with it because in NYC we have ready access to jobs, art, music, theater, excellent healthcare, etc. that is more difficult to find in rural areas of the Midwest. Additionally, having some well-off neighbors on a J-1 visa is not the true diversity of having kids from all over the world and with variable incomes and of different religions in your kids’ school. It’s also fun to get up on a Saturday morning and wonder if you should all go walk around Central Park, or go whale watching by the Statue of Liberty, get dim sum, walk over the Brooklyn bridge and get pizza, or see if you can get cheap tickets to a broadway show. These things are more important to some people than others, which is not to say that there is a better way, but that is why we deal.

Having a baby/toddler is, I think, hard in NYC, and this is when everyone leaves. But if you stick it out, teens/tweens in NYC have so much more independence - and I don’t have to schlepp my kids around every time they have a playdate.

Compared to a rural area, yes. But in any large US city you have access to music, art, great healthcare etc. also how often with young kids are you really attending concerts, art museums etc.

Nothing you listed presents a compelling argument that one should raise kids in NYC. Nothing you listed is unique to NY. Well the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn bridge but c’mon who cares.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely. However, if you think the suburban way of life is ideal, you won’t like it. I find our kids in this area have zero street smarts, little familiarity with people not like them, and can’t even figure out how to take the damn bus and their parents are afraid to let them do so. I found better community in NYC and more people looking out for us as kids than we do here. Sure a house in Greenwich is nice, but honestly way more of those kids were douchey than the ones in the city.

[Anonymous]

Maybe if I was Jerry Seinfeld rich and could have an amazing apartment and multiple vacations homes elsewhere. I grew up in a well off suburb on Long Island and now live in a diff suburb as an adult. Lived in the city for a decade in my twenties. Love NYC and it’s home- but it’s a fast place to raise kids, especially the very wealthy ones I knew who had that experience growing up. Not really something I’d want for them even if I could afford it.

[Anonymous]

No it seems unpleasant even with a lot of money. Traffic etc and just not my scene.

Also what are you considering "having the money" - like you're making $2M a year? No way, sounds like a mess to me.

If you have hundreds of millions like a celeb or something? Just hard to think about what that kind of life would be.

[Anonymous]

NYers are so weird about making sure everyone thinks NYC is the greatest place on earth. NYC lifers are not as worldly and sophisticated as they imagine themselves to be if they think NYC is a better place to raise a family than Berlin, Miami, LA, Vancouver, Bay Area, San Diego, Denver, Austin, Helsinki, Singapore,... I could go on. All expensive as **** but better environment overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people seem to get their ideas of nyc from movies and TV.

We live in NYC, but in a quiet corner with a lot of international neighbors and several nearby parks. Middle or upper middle class. Kids are in public school, which they love and is much more rigorous than their DC area school. The kids actually seem more innocent than in DC - our 5th grader still pretend plays with her friends in the garden area of our apartment building. They have a whole gnome village hidden in the plants. They spend hours there, and the doormen keep their secret.

The adults in NYC are not obsessed with status or what colleges they went to, unlike when we were in DC. I know what college every single person I know in DC went to, but I have no idea where our friends in nyc went to college (although a lot are international so it would be meaningless to me anyway). People do talk incessantly about real estate though. That gets old.

Also, people here keep saying at NYC is dysfunctional. When comparing NYC to DC, this is not our experience at all. DC was pretty dysfunctional, too, and not as safe as our neighborhood in NYC.

Spot on in my experience with both, too.

[Anonymous]

We do it and it is incredible with money. But if I made less than 1mm, no way I would live here with kids. You need money to live well in nyc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people seem to get their ideas of nyc from movies and TV.

We live in NYC, but in a quiet corner with a lot of international neighbors and several nearby parks. Middle or upper middle class. Kids are in public school, which they love and is much more rigorous than their DC area school. The kids actually seem more innocent than in DC - our 5th grader still pretend plays with her friends in the garden area of our apartment building. They have a whole gnome village hidden in the plants. They spend hours there, and the doormen keep their secret.

The adults in NYC are not obsessed with status or what colleges they went to, unlike when we were in DC. I know what college every single person I know in DC went to, but I have no idea where our friends in nyc went to college (although a lot are international so it would be meaningless to me anyway). People do talk incessantly about real estate though. That gets old.

Also, people here keep saying at NYC is dysfunctional. When comparing NYC to DC, this is not our experience at all. DC was pretty dysfunctional, too, and not as safe as our neighborhood in NYC.

This has to be the biggest joke ever.

Nope. I live in NYC and it truly can be like this. If you’ve never lived here, you just don’t know. Visiting Times Square several times doesn’t make you familiar with NYC.

It sounds like anywhere though. I used to live in an UMC neighborhood in a rural area with a lot of doctors and engineers here on J-1 visas. The kids played in the creek. We had to do a little fanangling with school and had kind of a mix of public school and homeschool co-op.
Why deal with all of the hassle and expense of NYC to have a midwestern life?

We deal with it because in NYC we have ready access to jobs, art, music, theater, excellent healthcare, etc. that is more difficult to find in rural areas of the Midwest. Additionally, having some well-off neighbors on a J-1 visa is not the true diversity of having kids from all over the world and with variable incomes and of different religions in your kids’ school. It’s also fun to get up on a Saturday morning and wonder if you should all go walk around Central Park, or go whale watching by the Statue of Liberty, get dim sum, walk over the Brooklyn bridge and get pizza, or see if you can get cheap tickets to a broadway show. These things are more important to some people than others, which is not to say that there is a better way, but that is why we deal.

Having a baby/toddler is, I think, hard in NYC, and this is when everyone leaves. But if you stick it out, teens/tweens in NYC have so much more independence - and I don’t have to schlepp my kids around every time they have a playdate.

Nyc is so great for babies and toddlers. You don't always have to getting in a d out of the car and stuffing then in a car seats. There is also endless entertainment in just a walk around the block.

Way to many opportunities for ice cream and treats.. I flat our lied to my little ones and told them we were assigned Fridays and that was only day we could get ice cream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people seem to get their ideas of nyc from movies and TV.

We live in NYC, but in a quiet corner with a lot of international neighbors and several nearby parks. Middle or upper middle class. Kids are in public school, which they love and is much more rigorous than their DC area school. The kids actually seem more innocent than in DC - our 5th grader still pretend plays with her friends in the garden area of our apartment building. They have a whole gnome village hidden in the plants. They spend hours there, and the doormen keep their secret.

The adults in NYC are not obsessed with status or what colleges they went to, unlike when we were in DC. I know what college every single person I know in DC went to, but I have no idea where our friends in nyc went to college (although a lot are international so it would be meaningless to me anyway). People do talk incessantly about real estate though. That gets old.

Also, people here keep saying at NYC is dysfunctional. When comparing NYC to DC, this is not our experience at all. DC was pretty dysfunctional, too, and not as safe as our neighborhood in NYC.

This has to be the biggest joke ever.

Nope. I live in NYC and it truly can be like this. If you’ve never lived here, you just don’t know. Visiting Times Square several times doesn’t make you familiar with NYC.

It sounds like anywhere though. I used to live in an UMC neighborhood in a rural area with a lot of doctors and engineers here on J-1 visas. The kids played in the creek. We had to do a little fanangling with school and had kind of a mix of public school and homeschool co-op.
Why deal with all of the hassle and expense of NYC to have a midwestern life?

We deal with it because in NYC we have ready access to jobs, art, music, theater, excellent healthcare, etc. that is more difficult to find in rural areas of the Midwest. Additionally, having some well-off neighbors on a J-1 visa is not the true diversity of having kids from all over the world and with variable incomes and of different religions in your kids’ school. It’s also fun to get up on a Saturday morning and wonder if you should all go walk around Central Park, or go whale watching by the Statue of Liberty, get dim sum, walk over the Brooklyn bridge and get pizza, or see if you can get cheap tickets to a broadway show. These things are more important to some people than others, which is not to say that there is a better way, but that is why we deal.

Having a baby/toddler is, I think, hard in NYC, and this is when everyone leaves. But if you stick it out, teens/tweens in NYC have so much more independence - and I don’t have to schlepp my kids around every time they have a playdate.

Compared to a rural area, yes. But in any large US city you have access to music, art, great healthcare etc. also how often with young kids are you really attending concerts, art museums etc. Nothing you listed presents a compelling argument that one should raise kids in NYC. Nothing you listed is unique to NY. Well the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn bridge but c’mon who cares.

We live in NYC with two elementary age kids - in September we went to museums/zoo three times. We saw Harry Styles, Ben Platt, Billy Joel, and Eric Clapton. We do fun stuff every weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people seem to get their ideas of nyc from movies and TV.

We live in NYC, but in a quiet corner with a lot of international neighbors and several nearby parks. Middle or upper middle class. Kids are in public school, which they love and is much more rigorous than their DC area school. The kids actually seem more innocent than in DC - our 5th grader still pretend plays with her friends in the garden area of our apartment building. They have a whole gnome village hidden in the plants. They spend hours there, and the doormen keep their secret.

The adults in NYC are not obsessed with status or what colleges they went to, unlike when we were in DC. I know what college every single person I know in DC went to, but I have no idea where our friends in nyc went to college (although a lot are international so it would be meaningless to me anyway). People do talk incessantly about real estate though. That gets old.

Also, people here keep saying at NYC is dysfunctional. When comparing NYC to DC, this is not our experience at all. DC was pretty dysfunctional, too, and not as safe as our neighborhood in NYC.

This has to be the biggest joke ever.

Nope. I live in NYC and it truly can be like this. If you’ve never lived here, you just don’t know. Visiting Times Square several times doesn’t make you familiar with NYC.

It sounds like anywhere though. I used to live in an UMC neighborhood in a rural area with a lot of doctors and engineers here on J-1 visas. The kids played in the creek. We had to do a little fanangling with school and had kind of a mix of public school and homeschool co-op.
Why deal with all of the hassle and expense of NYC to have a midwestern life?

We deal with it because in NYC we have ready access to jobs, art, music, theater, excellent healthcare, etc. that is more difficult to find in rural areas of the Midwest. Additionally, having some well-off neighbors on a J-1 visa is not the true diversity of having kids from all over the world and with variable incomes and of different religions in your kids’ school. It’s also fun to get up on a Saturday morning and wonder if you should all go walk around Central Park, or go whale watching by the Statue of Liberty, get dim sum, walk over the Brooklyn bridge and get pizza, or see if you can get cheap tickets to a broadway show. These things are more important to some people than others, which is not to say that there is a better way, but that is why we deal.

Having a baby/toddler is, I think, hard in NYC, and this is when everyone leaves. But if you stick it out, teens/tweens in NYC have so much more independence - and I don’t have to schlepp my kids around every time they have a playdate.

Nyc is so great for babies and toddlers. You don't always have to getting in a d out of the car and stuffing then in a car seats. There is also endless entertainment in just a walk around the block.

Way to many opportunities for ice cream and treats.. I flat our lied to my little ones and told them we were assigned Fridays and that was only day we could get ice cream.

So true. I had the best time being a new mom there. We left when our youngest was 4, but should have left sooner. The NYC baby and toddler scene is wonderful. So easy to get around, have a good time, so many awesome playgrounds and museums, easy to meet other parents.

[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.

We're doing the same in Boston. I feel like we have everything available to us that you have in NYC on a smaller scale, and thankfully so much more safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

We're doing the same in Boston. I feel like we have everything available to us that you have in NYC on a smaller scale, and thankfully so much more safe.

Amen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people seem to get their ideas of nyc from movies and TV.

We live in NYC, but in a quiet corner with a lot of international neighbors and several nearby parks. Middle or upper middle class. Kids are in public school, which they love and is much more rigorous than their DC area school. The kids actually seem more innocent than in DC - our 5th grader still pretend plays with her friends in the garden area of our apartment building. They have a whole gnome village hidden in the plants. They spend hours there, and the doormen keep their secret.

The adults in NYC are not obsessed with status or what colleges they went to, unlike when we were in DC. I know what college every single person I know in DC went to, but I have no idea where our friends in nyc went to college (although a lot are international so it would be meaningless to me anyway). People do talk incessantly about real estate though. That gets old.

Also, people here keep saying at NYC is dysfunctional. When comparing NYC to DC, this is not our experience at all. DC was pretty dysfunctional, too, and not as safe as our neighborhood in NYC.

This has to be the biggest joke ever.

We can do all that in dc and it’s free bug a boo

Nope. I live in NYC and it truly can be like this. If you’ve never lived here, you just don’t know. Visiting Times Square several times doesn’t make you familiar with NYC.

It sounds like anywhere though. I used to live in an UMC neighborhood in a rural area with a lot of doctors and engineers here on J-1 visas. The kids played in the creek. We had to do a little fanangling with school and had kind of a mix of public school and homeschool co-op.
Why deal with all of the hassle and expense of NYC to have a midwestern life?

We deal with it because in NYC we have ready access to jobs, art, music, theater, excellent healthcare, etc. that is more difficult to find in rural areas of the Midwest. Additionally, having some well-off neighbors on a J-1 visa is not the true diversity of having kids from all over the world and with variable incomes and of different religions in your kids’ school. It’s also fun to get up on a Saturday morning and wonder if you should all go walk around Central Park, or go whale watching by the Statue of Liberty, get dim sum, walk over the Brooklyn bridge and get pizza, or see if you can get cheap tickets to a broadway show. These things are more important to some people than others, which is not to say that there is a better way, but that is why we deal.

Having a baby/toddler is, I think, hard in NYC, and this is when everyone leaves. But if you stick it out, teens/tweens in NYC have so much more independence - and I don’t have to schlepp my kids around every time they have a playdate.

Compared to a rural area, yes. But in any large US city you have access to music, art, great healthcare etc. also how often with young kids are you really attending concerts, art museums etc. Nothing you listed presents a compelling argument that one should raise kids in NYC. Nothing you listed is unique to NY. Well the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn bridge but c’mon who cares.

We live in NYC with two elementary age kids - in September we went to museums/zoo three times. We saw Harry Styles, Ben Platt, Billy Joel, and Eric Clapton. We do fun stuff every weekend.

[Anonymous]

Nope. I am a country girl. I will raise my kids on acreage, safety, 2 street neighborhoods, and all the fun a child can have in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people seem to get their ideas of nyc from movies and TV.

We live in NYC, but in a quiet corner with a lot of international neighbors and several nearby parks. Middle or upper middle class. Kids are in public school, which they love and is much more rigorous than their DC area school. The kids actually seem more innocent than in DC - our 5th grader still pretend plays with her friends in the garden area of our apartment building. They have a whole gnome village hidden in the plants. They spend hours there, and the doormen keep their secret.

The adults in NYC are not obsessed with status or what colleges they went to, unlike when we were in DC. I know what college every single person I know in DC went to, but I have no idea where our friends in nyc went to college (although a lot are international so it would be meaningless to me anyway). People do talk incessantly about real estate though. That gets old.

Also, people here keep saying at NYC is dysfunctional. When comparing NYC to DC, this is not our experience at all. DC was pretty dysfunctional, too, and not as safe as our neighborhood in NYC.

This has to be the biggest joke ever.

Nope. I live in NYC and it truly can be like this. If you’ve never lived here, you just don’t know. Visiting Times Square several times doesn’t make you familiar with NYC.

It sounds like anywhere though. I used to live in an UMC neighborhood in a rural area with a lot of doctors and engineers here on J-1 visas. The kids played in the creek. We had to do a little fanangling with school and had kind of a mix of public school and homeschool co-op.
Why deal with all of the hassle and expense of NYC to have a midwestern life?

We deal with it because in NYC we have ready access to jobs, art, music, theater, excellent healthcare, etc. that is more difficult to find in rural areas of the Midwest. Additionally, having some well-off neighbors on a J-1 visa is not the true diversity of having kids from all over the world and with variable incomes and of different religions in your kids’ school. It’s also fun to get up on a Saturday morning and wonder if you should all go walk around Central Park, or go whale watching by the Statue of Liberty, get dim sum, walk over the Brooklyn bridge and get pizza, or see if you can get cheap tickets to a broadway show. These things are more important to some people than others, which is not to say that there is a better way, but that is why we deal.

Having a baby/toddler is, I think, hard in NYC, and this is when everyone leaves. But if you stick it out, teens/tweens in NYC have so much more independence - and I don’t have to schlepp my kids around every time they have a playdate.

Compared to a rural area, yes. But in any large US city you have access to music, art, great healthcare etc. also how often with young kids are you really attending concerts, art museums etc. Nothing you listed presents a compelling argument that one should raise kids in NYC. Nothing you listed is unique to NY. Well the Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn bridge but c’mon who cares.

We live in NYC with two elementary age kids - in September we went to museums/zoo three times. We saw Harry Styles, Ben Platt, Billy Joel, and Eric Clapton. We do fun stuff every weekend.

You did the bolded because you live in a smaller space and have to get out of the house. If you lived in say, Dallas or Seattle, you wouldn’t be in such a need to go go go on the weekends because you’d have space to entertain and a backyard for kids to use. Regardless there are zoos and museums in almost very large city.

You could have attended those concerts in other cities. All of those musicians were likely on tour except for billy Joel. That’s hardly unique to NY.