Play-Learn-Grow-Repeat

From Monday Mom – Neetika:
We live in “the city.” It’s a fact of life that complicates parenting quite a bit. When one imagines raising children, it’s usually within the confines of a somewhat idyllic community space, replete with green backyards, safe roads including bike paths, plenty of children’s events and activities, and like-minded neighbors.

Yet when you take a visit to my home sweet home, you have the distinct feeling that you are not in Kansas anymore.

For us, city living means a railroad-style apartment rather than a house with several bedrooms and more than one bathroom. Our green space is the city’s nearby park—lovely, but by no means our own. With a population as dense as it is here, safety is always an issue… which is not to say that a childhood in this neighborhood is an unfortunate one. Yes, kids here do not enjoy the standard amenities their suburban counterparts take for granted. But they do learn a lot about independence, other cultures, and what the world has to offer in a broader sense. They meet people who have all sorts of “back stories” and professions. The concept that not every person lives the way their families live is as concrete as the pavement they pound every day, to get absolutely everywhere. No city kid is going to scoff at a long walk.

Many neighborhoods of major cities have experienced a boom in their pre-adolescent populations. This has spawned all kinds of complications for city parents. From pre-kindergarten to summer camp to soccer teams, there are just not enough spots for every child who wants them—or more accurately, the parents who want the spots for their children. A friend of mine recently waited on line in the bitter cold in the middle of the night to get her kid into a local preschool. I use the word “local” liberally, as the school is a good thirty blocks form her home and was far from her first choice. Despite her efforts, she did not get the schedule she wanted for her son. He’s only three years old and if they stay in this neighborhood, this is only the beginning of the lines, the wait lists, and the exorbitant tuitions they—and everyone else in the area, including my own family—will have to endure.

In this mom’s opinion, this can’t go on forever. Paradigms shift. Things change. Urban parents want a cosmopolitan life for their child that’s also safe, simple and wonderfully community-oriented. Something has got to give. These neighborhoods may just become enclaves for the super-rich in a few years. The rest of us will surely conclude that this can’t be worth it. The suburbs are getting better restaurants, more impressive arts, and just maybe, some of those kids who swore that once they grew up, they’d never go back.