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

Forum Index » General Parenting Discussion

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I grew up in a brownstone on the Upper East Side and went to private school. I now live in the DC suburbs. I’m torn on this question. I loved growing up in NYC. I had a ton of independence, met cool and interesting people and got to do many cool and interesting things. I think it made me more resilient and independent and frankly, more interesting.
But, it was a very big money culture and kind of a weird bubble. On the one hand, I would spend my days at school with children of billionaires (and this was back in the 80s when they weren’t so common) as well as celebrities and well known NYers. Then I’d head home walking by homeless people, get on the public bus (and everyone took the public bus, even billionaire kids) and I would be the only white person. So, I was aware of the wider world where there were many have-nots yet my everyday baseline of how people lived was skewed by my classmates. [b][b]Yet, I am much less afraid of people of different backgrounds than my suburban-raised friends.[/b][/b][youtube]
Now when I am with my friends from NYC, all I hear is how caught up they are in the private school and social world and I am glad to not be part of it. DC has its own rat race but I have chosen to not engage in that world and am happier for it. So, I guess the answer is no but I do regret not giving my kids exposure to many of the things I was exposed to. [/quote]

Nice to hear that you and the billionaire's kids are so in touch with the poors and POC because you spotted them on public transportation. You are so insufferable.[/quote]

I was coming on here just to write this very thing! Bwahaha[/quote]

+ 1 over here, too, hilarious [/quote]

I kind of get the mocking, but doesn't exposure to other people matter? Isn't it better to ride public transportation with everyone than to grow up being shuttled around in your car from your homogenous school to activities? Not saying it has to be one or the other, but it's hard to deny the value of an equitable public transportation system as a unifier of humanity, on some levels. [/quote]

If you don’t ride the subway I understand the mockery. But I take subway to work every day, and I understand exactly what the poster people are mocking was trying to convey.

I feel weirdly connected to society at large in a subway car. Everyone is there - rich, poor, old, young, healthy, disabled, etc. - often smushed together at rush hour. Everyone is staring vacantly into space, but is also alert to everyone around them. People wordlessly stand up to allow kids and old people to sit down, and people look out for each other if you drop something or get hassled by a homeless person.

Whatever happens in that subway car, you are all in it together, and it doesn’t matter how rich you are or what your last name is when you are hurtling down a track under the east river at 7 AM. And almost everyone at work from the top level management to the cleaning staff can discuss with one another just how much they got “f’d by the train” that morning.  I think this is what the poster is alluding to, this shared experience with a random cross section of society that is harder to find outside NYC.

I think this is why so many movies and tv shows have scenes where the protagonist is riding the subway - it’s a weird liminal space because you are simultaneously alone but also together with the rest of society.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics