Being born and raised in a bubble sort of suburb of Pittsburgh, I spent my life dreaming of ways to get out of the small town and escape to the city of dreams, New York City. My husband was born and raised in Brooklyn, so to him, this place is home. And we all know that there is nothing like home. Now here we are, many years later and raising our son in the city that never sleeps, where many would be skeptical about raising a child. But for us, it is perfectly grand, and we fill our life will all of these kid friendly, daily outings to make sure our son always gets the best of what this great city has to offer!
It can be quite patronizing visiting Pittsburgh and hearing the constant questions of “Do you think that where you are living is safe?” and “You walk your son to school?!” It’s a different lifestyle, and if you are living here and raising a family here, you obviously need to be smart and understand the difference between city life and suburban life, but that doesn’t mean that there is anything less good about it.
We love living in New York City, as there are so many experiences right at our fingertips. Many of these experiences would not be available to our family and our son if we lived anywhere else in the world.
Kid Friendly: Top Reasons NYC Life Beats the ‘Burbs
Culture is at your fingertips.
Growing up in NYC means that you have complete access to museums, galleries, architecture, renowned restaurants, etc, every single day! Kids have the opportunity to start their day in Chinatown and finish in Little Italy. Submerging children in many diverse experiences in our melting pot of cultures, will stick with your kiddos and shape and broaden who they are.
I recommend: Spend an afternoon with your family at the Museum of Natural History, there is something for everyone inside this iconic museum!
Endless Activities.
The daily options are really endless and some are even FREE! There are so many classes for children to take and new activities to be discovered that there is NO reason to EVER hear the words “I’m bored” come out of your kiddos’ mouths! Enough said!
I recommend: Take the family out for a day of the arts at The Players Theater. It’s a little hole in the wall theater in the West Village, but with every ticket purchase comes a pre-event workshop with the kiddos that teaches them about plays plus gives them a craft of some sort to complete!
The beach is always a short train ride away.
When we think of city life, we automatically picture large buildings and tiny apartments, which is true. But, it is also important to take into consideration the large amount of open space that we have as well, specifically speaking, the beach!
Growing up in a suburb, typically you take a family vacation to the beach once a year (more if you are lucky!). But growing up in NYC gives you the chance to hop on a train on any given day and spend some quality time in the sand. Whether you travel a little further to Long Island or stay local with Brooklyn and Queens beaches, the opportunity to visit the ocean in winter AND summer is pretty darn cool!
I recommend: Take the kids on the subway to visit Manhattan Beach. It’s clean, spacious, and a fun filled family day!
Iconic sights are in your backyard-literally!
Growing up, we read about structures like the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Statue of Liberty in our history books, but living in this great city enables you to literally look out your window and see these amazing sights! We get to experience what others just read about, every day of our lives!
I recommend: Take the kiddos for a rise on the Staten Island Ferry! It is clean, free, has room to run around, and accessible bathrooms. You get to see a little bit of everything on the ride!
At the end of the day, you must do what works best for you and your family, no matter what that may be. But, don’t ever feel like you are slighting your kids in any way. There are pros and cons to living in every city in the world, you just have to find your families city of dreams.
A version of this post was originally published by Allison in Mommy Nearest Magazine.
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