Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're considering that same thing. We have kids in middle school so we're really tied into the neighborhood for just about every aspect of our life. Starting over with older kids seems really hard. We've had friends who have left CH over the past couple years. They all seem to be doing fine but no one seems to love their new suburban life. Sure some things are better (like less crime and a bigger house) but other things are tougher. We have one friend who moved to Arlington who just can't get over how insanely competitive everything is for kids (schools, sports etc.). We have another friend who moved to Bethesda and still has no neighborhood friends after 2 years. Apparently their neighborhood has to many retired folks and not many families. I just don't know.

They wouldn’t have moved out of CH if they weren’t “insanely competitive” themselves. Pot meet kettle.

That's not true because we are not competitive at all and are considering moving out of CH. Though admittedly, we are looking more at Silver Spring or maybe even Howard County -- somewhere with decent schools and community, but not where people will commit crimes to get their kids into TJ or spend 3k a month on tutoring and private coaches to make sure their kid is at the top of everything.

Also, there are absolutely competitive people on CH, it's just a different kind of competitiveness. It's the nice-seeming mom who passive-aggressively talks about how much they love SWS's nurturing environment or earnestly explains how much their 7 year old loves kale. Or the person with 8 different versions of "Hate has no home here" signs in their postage stamp yard. It's almost worse because at least the hyper-competitive sports/academics parents are pretty up front about what they are doing and it's transparently about trying to ensure their kids are successful (albeit by a narrow metric). People on CH would never admit they're competitive, and might not even realize their behavior is competitive, and that lack of self-awareness is sometimes exhausting.

Uh, you’ll find plenty of passive-aggressiveness in Arlington too, along with trancelike recitations of how “amazing” the schools are.

Did you miss the part where I said we're leaning toward Silver Spring or Howard County, in part specifically because of the culture and wanting to avoid competitive, passive-aggressive people?

Mostly I was responding to the idea that the people on Capitol Hill are super chill and not competitive compared to people in Arlington or elsewhere. My experience is that people on the Hill can be extremely competitive, but it's in this super narrow way where it's like a competition to prove how progressive, environmentally minded, and modern you are. Like instead of competing based on their kids' swim times or how nice their car is, they'll be quietly competitive about their new e-bike for school drop off, or getting hyper-local food delivery or whatever. And I've found that especially once you hit the parenting years, it wears you down after a time. All the hot parenting debates, like screen time and picky eating, but in this faux-tolerant way, like "oh I think it's GREAT your little one loves Bluey, we've just decided to hold off on screen time as long as we can so our kids mostly just do art projects and practice reading at home." It's not even that I feel attacked, it's more that this is a strange way to interact and I get tired of listening to everyone try to quietly prove that they are the one person who has figured it all out.

Maybe that's everywhere. I'd like to hope that it might not be though!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to our local DCPS school through 5th grade. They've won music/academic scholarships to a private school we can afford with the fi aid. We know that there are other great DC neighborhoods, but we're not moving 25 years into our life on the Hill just for schools. We can't stand the idea of taking care of a yard, having to walk more than 10 mins to a Metro station, or starting over socially. To each her own.

We don't walk more than ten minutes to the metro, or the supermarket, or one of 5 coffee shops, or our great middle school here in Arlington. We didn't really start over socially, we kept our old friends and made new ones. We have a yard and pay about $1000/year for someone else to take care of it (we save at least that much in taxes). Sounds like the Hill worked for you because of the scholarships, but honestly I do think some people assume that life outside of the Hill is some kind of suburban hellscape, when it can still be very walkable and pleasant. Our kids are in the car much less since we moved than they were before. And yes, real estate near a metro stop is expensive - but so is the Hill.

I live 2 blocks from Eastern Market, so it’s pleasant, but if I lived in Hill East like so many young families do these days, I’d have moved years ago. So much of the Hill is near nothing and is very inconvenient.

It is adorable how old timers on the Hill think Eastern Market is the epicenter of area amenities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to our local DCPS school through 5th grade. They've won music/academic scholarships to a private school we can afford with the fi aid. We know that there are other great DC neighborhoods, but we're not moving 25 years into our life on the Hill just for schools. We can't stand the idea of taking care of a yard, having to walk more than 10 mins to a Metro station, or starting over socially. To each her own.

We don't walk more than ten minutes to the metro, or the supermarket, or one of 5 coffee shops, or our great middle school here in Arlington. We didn't really start over socially, we kept our old friends and made new ones. We have a yard and pay about $1000/year for someone else to take care of it (we save at least that much in taxes). Sounds like the Hill worked for you because of the scholarships, but honestly I do think some people assume that life outside of the Hill is some kind of suburban hellscape, when it can still be very walkable and pleasant. Our kids are in the car much less since we moved than they were before. And yes, real estate near a metro stop is expensive - but so is the Hill.

I live 2 blocks from Eastern Market, so it’s pleasant, but if I lived in Hill East like so many young families do these days, I’d have moved years ago. So much of the Hill is near nothing and is very inconvenient.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to our local DCPS school through 5th grade. They've won music/academic scholarships to a private school we can afford with the fi aid. We know that there are other great DC neighborhoods, but we're not moving 25 years into our life on the Hill just for schools. We can't stand the idea of taking care of a yard, having to walk more than 10 mins to a Metro station, or starting over socially. To each her own.

We don't walk more than ten minutes to the metro, or the supermarket, or one of 5 coffee shops, or our great middle school here in Arlington. We didn't really start over socially, we kept our old friends and made new ones. We have a yard and pay about $1000/year for someone else to take care of it (we save at least that much in taxes). Sounds like the Hill worked for you because of the scholarships, but honestly I do think some people assume that life outside of the Hill is some kind of suburban hellscape, when it can still be very walkable and pleasant. Our kids are in the car much less since we moved than they were before. And yes, real estate near a metro stop is expensive - but so is the Hill.

Anonymous wrote:The Hill isn’t expensive if you bought your house 10-20 years ago, like many of us did. Yea, older parents are often the ones who stay. Staying takes much more than lottery luck, it often takes more planning than relocating. Those who don’t research and plan carefully on the schools front far in advance, don’t make Plan Bs, tend to go.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're considering that same thing. We have kids in middle school so we're really tied into the neighborhood for just about every aspect of our life. Starting over with older kids seems really hard. We've had friends who have left CH over the past couple years. They all seem to be doing fine but no one seems to love their new suburban life. Sure some things are better (like less crime and a bigger house) but other things are tougher. We have one friend who moved to Arlington who just can't get over how insanely competitive everything is for kids (schools, sports etc.). We have another friend who moved to Bethesda and still has no neighborhood friends after 2 years. Apparently their neighborhood has to many retired folks and not many families. I just don't know.

They wouldn’t have moved out of CH if they weren’t “insanely competitive” themselves. Pot meet kettle.

That's not true because we are not competitive at all and are considering moving out of CH. Though admittedly, we are looking more at Silver Spring or maybe even Howard County -- somewhere with decent schools and community, but not where people will commit crimes to get their kids into TJ or spend 3k a month on tutoring and private coaches to make sure their kid is at the top of everything.

Also, there are absolutely competitive people on CH, it's just a different kind of competitiveness. It's the nice-seeming mom who passive-aggressively talks about how much they love SWS's nurturing environment or earnestly explains how much their 7 year old loves kale. Or the person with 8 different versions of "Hate has no home here" signs in their postage stamp yard. It's almost worse because at least the hyper-competitive sports/academics parents are pretty up front about what they are doing and it's transparently about trying to ensure their kids are successful (albeit by a narrow metric). People on CH would never admit they're competitive, and might not even realize their behavior is competitive, and that lack of self-awareness is sometimes exhausting.

Uh, you’ll find plenty of passive-aggressiveness in Arlington too, along with trancelike recitations of how “amazing” the schools are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're considering that same thing. We have kids in middle school so we're really tied into the neighborhood for just about every aspect of our life. Starting over with older kids seems really hard. We've had friends who have left CH over the past couple years. They all seem to be doing fine but no one seems to love their new suburban life. Sure some things are better (like less crime and a bigger house) but other things are tougher. We have one friend who moved to Arlington who just can't get over how insanely competitive everything is for kids (schools, sports etc.). We have another friend who moved to Bethesda and still has no neighborhood friends after 2 years. Apparently their neighborhood has to many retired folks and not many families. I just don't know.

They wouldn’t have moved out of CH if they weren’t “insanely competitive” themselves. Pot meet kettle.

That's not true because we are not competitive at all and are considering moving out of CH. Though admittedly, we are looking more at Silver Spring or maybe even Howard County -- somewhere with decent schools and community, but not where people will commit crimes to get their kids into TJ or spend 3k a month on tutoring and private coaches to make sure their kid is at the top of everything.

Also, there are absolutely competitive people on CH, it's just a different kind of competitiveness. It's the nice-seeming mom who passive-aggressively talks about how much they love SWS's nurturing environment or earnestly explains how much their 7 year old loves kale. Or the person with 8 different versions of "Hate has no home here" signs in their postage stamp yard. It's almost worse because at least the hyper-competitive sports/academics parents are pretty up front about what they are doing and it's transparently about trying to ensure their kids are successful (albeit by a narrow metric). People on CH would never admit they're competitive, and might not even realize their behavior is competitive, and that lack of self-awareness is sometimes exhausting.

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to our local DCPS school through 5th grade. They've won music/academic scholarships to a private school we can afford with the fi aid. We know that there are other great DC neighborhoods, but we're not moving 25 years into our life on the Hill just for schools. We can't stand the idea of taking care of a yard, having to walk more than 10 mins to a Metro station, or starting over socially. To each her own.

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to our local DCPS school through 5th grade. They've won music/academic scholarships to a private school we can afford with the fi aid. We know that there are other great DC neighborhoods, but we're not moving 25 years into our life on the Hill just for schools. We can't stand the idea of taking care of a yard, having to walk more than 10 mins to a Metro station, or starting over socially. To each her own.

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to our local DCPS school through 5th grade. They've won music/academic scholarships to a private school we can afford with the fi aid. We know that there are other great DC neighborhoods, but we're not moving 25 years into our life on the Hill just for schools. We can't stand the idea of taking care of a yard, having to walk more than 10 mins to a Metro station, or starting over socially. To each her own.