Reply to Most Stay-at-home Dad friendly neighborhood/elementary school in Fairfax County?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Burke would be a great fit. I live right on the border  west Springfield/Burke, and there are always lots of dads at the bus stop in the afternoon. Maybe they all flex, but there are definitely involved father's around. Our pool is welcoming and accepting new members, kids ride their bikes around the streets (no through traffic in our neighborhood, it's a closed loop), and a nice mix of families and retirees.

Houses are in the $5-600s though, so you may be underwhelmed.[/quote]

OP here.  Thank you (and many others) for your helpful contributions of information.  My wife and I do like some of the $5-600K Split levels and other 70s era home models.  We are especially attracted to smaller homes that are built with quality materials (brick, copper pipes, hardwood, etc.) in neighborhoods such as Kings Park.  Part of our challenge in selecting a modest home/neighborhood significantly below our budget is that my wife went to straight ivy leagues through Medical School and Residency, and she doesn't want to be too embarassed when we invite her wealthier friends over for a visit. [b] At the same time, she is a West Springfield Elementary graduate and I went to JMU[/b].  Is your pool Fox Hunt or Orange Hunt?

Adding the names of specific elementary schools and swim clubs to these posts is more useful than recommending all of Burke and West Springfield.  From Great Schools' reviews, Bonnie Brae appears to be having conflicts between two different demographic groups, whereas Sangster might be too "competing with the Jones" and materialistic for our tastes.  Being around a high percentage of other Moms and Dads, regardless of employment status, who commit lots of time towards thoughtfully raising their children is what's most important to us in selecting our final home.[/quote]

Why are you down on either of these? If her friends would become judgmental about your home than I don't see how they wouldn't be judgmental about her husband staying home while she works. Seems like something that judgmental people could really be snotty about.[/quote]

OP here, again.  I want to publicly apologize for sounding so critical of two of the schools we are actually seriously considering.  As I have not ever visited these schools, I understand that my initial impressions could likely be completely wrong.  Online review pages tend to attract people with the worst experiences, so I'm certain I've gotten somewhat skewed advice at Great Schools.com.  That's why it's been informative to hear new perspectives, here.  Thank you, and others.

As for the valid inquiry as to how our friends re-act to our career choices, so far I've been a part-time Ph.D. student while caring for our kids, so most of her friends tend to think of me as an equal, even though I spend a lot more time child-raising.  For the most part, we can care less what other people think (our current starter home is in a low SES area with murders nearby), but we also don't want to feel that we worked super hard to get where we are financially and then settled for less than what might make us the most happy.

Towards that end, thanks for helping us find our bliss![/quote]

How do you know what her friends think? Maybe you are hot and her colleagues will think you are a trophy husband.[/quote]

+1[/quote]

Yes, I am much more likely to judge a guy who stays home full time than the house and specific neighborhood. I admit when I was young and ambitious, I thought I would be ideal to have a house husband who cooked and cleaned for me. Now that I'm in my late 30's, I would not find a house husband sexy at all.

DH is the main breadwinner in our house, I work part time and we have a part time housekeeper to do all the cleaning.[/quote]

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