Parenting in London - positives?

[Mariposa26]

We live on zone 2/3 border and have a 6 month old DD. We enjoy an active social life, and really loved London up until now. Currently all I can think about is getting her out of London - comparing it to my childhood where my family dropped by every day, where I played out with friends after school and knew everyone locally…things I feel she will never experience here. I feel that I want to move back to the NW, but my partner will never go for it.
Can anyone share positive stories of raising kids in London and the London lifestyle? All I hear is negatives, and it’s getting me down. She will be in nursery full time too (or possibly a 9 day fortnight)
Thank you!

Lived here all my life, so don't know any different. But London has endless free stuff to do, so is much better if you're not well off. Lots of places to go in winter rather than sit at home. Museums, galleries, etc. all have stuff crazily aimed at toddlers, or rather, their desperate parents. Southbank filled with them at weekends. Child-friendly cafes everywhere.

^^wss. Eleventy billion playgroups, playgrounds, free activities. Typically though most people do the same five things with their kids, because they are exhausted and their kids (and most kids) are happy with anything.

I have an eight month Dc and live in zone four London. I go back to stay at my mums which is a home county sometimes - a market town. Honestly I can see the difference already. In London I have an abundance of baby classes - free - in fact I go to one a day. My Dc really needs it as she is a handful and she loves her classes exploring new toys. I walk to all the classes which makes things so easy. Back at mums there’s far less classes, and me and her have to drive everywhere. It’s a drag.

I also think when Dc gets older transport in London is actually quite cheap (I know people mon about tfl but it’s cheaper than the trains and buses at mums market town) and DC’s can be far more independent.

i am excited for my Dc to grow up in London.

i know people have different opinions so obviously you need to do what is best for you.

• moan

Where are you getting all this negativity from, op? Presumably not from friends who are raising their kids in London?! Anyone who isn't doesn't get to have an opinion, really.

Probably positives for when they are teens- alll the gigs and activities they could
Possibly ever imagine.

Potentially more open minded up bringing with lots of different races and backgrounds around them. Ambitious and interesting people ten a Penny.

Lots of cool things to do with kids especially pub culture- there aren't many places out of London where you go to the pub at the weekend as a gang and meet your mates there in the same family friendly way you do in London.

You will earn more so potentially be able to provide more for them.

If you're happy in London then they will be too.

Having said all the above though we did move away from London a few years ago with our young DC and I really think it was the right choice 🙃 sorry!

Thanks for the replies everyone.

@HarrietJet - it’s a mix really, some people who have always been outside of London and others who have moved out when having kids or are here reluctantly. The main negative points given to me are around pollution, crime and the lack of community/family, as well as the long hours she will be in nursery due to us both needing to work.

I'm in zone 4 and love it. My kids are a bit older now, but I like how there's always something to do in London, either in our little corner or by easily heading into town. We're near some huge parks and can head out to Surrey if we want some green too. As the kids have got older, anything they've shown an interest in - sports, dance, arts etc - we've easily been able to find a club for them to join. Schools are excellent, both primary and secondary (state). My eldest is able to easily get the bus to the cinema etc to meet her friends - I don't have to taxi them everywhere! I honestly wouldn't have it any other way.

For me / us the positive things are:

• diversity
• great food
• thousands of fabulous playgrounds and sport / leisure
• world class cultural activities
• close neighbourhood (because primary catchments are tiny and walkable)
• beautiful architecture and loads of green spaces
• opportunities for dc to follow most passions and interests
• short cheap commutes so more family time

It's not for everyone but we really love it

We are zone 4. There are endless things for kids to do in walking distance or a short train/tube away. I also think that if they wanted to do low paid internships in London. they can live at home. I would much rather they had this childhood than my dull Nottinghamshire suburb childhood.

Oh, look at Bablands London Instagram?

I grew up in zone 4, i am raising my kids in zone 5.

Love It!

There are tonnes of awesome parks and playgrounds.
Huge choice of classes.
Excellent state education provision
Easy access to green space.
Amazing subsusidised leisure centres (thanks better gyms!)
A sense of community (we know our neighbours and lots of local families through playgroups / local businesses etc)
On the tube line you are one ride away from a new adventure.
London has so much free and interesting stuff to do.
I like living here and its fun for me...

I have a teenager. I wanted to move away a million times for my sake (I'm fed-up) but it's very easy for teens to live here. State schools have been good for my child. Because of catchment areas, friends are not far away. She can usually find her way home on good public transport using Google maps. There's plenty of free stuff to do. She has access to some excellent facilities for her hobbies. She's not been limited in her choices for further education. She's grown up in a diverse area.

Compared with my teens where I had to constantly ask for lifts, the local schools were a bit crap, further & higher education was extremely limited, the nearest bit of culture was 20 miles away, and my friends were from about ten different villages around a market town. I spent most of adolescence with my parents! ☹️ Rampant prejudice against anyone deemed, "different". My niece & nephew grew up where I did and had similar experiences. I'm constantly pissed off with London, but at least my daughter now has opportunities.

My parents lived in a large cosmopolitan city when they got pregnant with my older sibling and decided to move to the countryside ‘for us’. Well guess what it was boring as fuck, turns out I hate cow shit and mud and freezing mornings hanging about waiting for school buses that are always late. Here’s a list of the negatives (because writing it will also be cathartic for me!):

1. There were actually very few kids my age nearby, just a hell of a lot of old people. So not much playing out
2. The buses to the local town only went hourly and stopped at 5pm, my life was so limited I couldn’t do after school clubs because there was no way of getting home (parents couldn’t do lifts for several reasons)
3. As a teen I couldn’t ever just pop to the shop, or a friend’s house, there was fuck all within walking distance so I wasted so much time sat at home watching MTV and South Park because all outings had to be planned in advance and public transport timetables consulted
4. When foot and mouth hit we were surrounded by piles of dead animal funeral pyres, it was awful
5. Fucking massive spiders
6. Growing up in Tory Brexitland actually moulded me into quite a xenophobic and small minded person and it took me a while to untie these knots as an adult

So my advice if you’re thinking of going rural, don’t do it.

All of the above! Bablands and MuseumMum are 2 accounts worth following. We literally can't fit all the free stuff to do in- and kids are free on transport until 16 (bus and tram) and free on other transport until 11.

The other benefit is schools. Contrary to popular belief, London has the best schools in the country, and if the one that you've picked doesn't work out, there will be another one nearby. In another area you might be stuck. We have 7 primaries in easy walking distance.

You can service any interest- my 10 yo started getting into Shakespeare so we just booked tickets to be groundings at The Globe, for example. Hobbies and clubs seem generally cheaper than rural or burbs- density, subsidies and things like museums or theatres that run them as part of outreach make that happen. I love that they can follow any interest to whatever level they want.

Although I grew up in the country my kids actually have more access to green space in London; it was all farmers fields that we weren't allowed on or had to be driven to, and we have endless urban parks in London.

My teen relatives in London are super independent and get themselves around and are streetwise.

The down side is they will probably never leave home...

We live in zone 2 and have a DD aged nearly 8. I love living here and think it’s a great place to raise kids. Everything is on the doorstep - parks, museums, galleries, playgrounds, cafes, libraries, shops, you name it. DD is at an outstanding primary with a hugely diverse intake - far more so than my extremely homogenous rural primary school in the 90s. She meets and interacts daily with people from multiple different ethnic and social backgrounds. Our area has a real community feel - the idea that Londoners are unfriendly is an inaccurate stereotype. I can’t currently imagine living anywhere else.

Should add that I grew up in the countryside and escaped at the first opportunity!

Exactly, we have an awesome sense of community. We know everyone on the street, people look out for each other and we lend stuff, chat- it's great!

Pollution is improving and with the ULEZ expansion will be even better.

I think it very much depends on where you live, I don't necessarily mean the area, more the position of your house. I'm a Londoner and had my dd there, had to move when she was 5 as couldn't afford to buy bigger. We are now in the commuter belt and live around a green that all the kids play out on, there's always kids knocking for her and it's really sweet and safe. She wouldn't have had this experience if we'd stayed in London. I had a similar experience in London as we lived in a small cul de sac that happened to have young families too - hence me mentioning position of house vs area.
Once she gets to say 12 - she would undoubtably have a better life in London. And I mourn the fact she isn't growing up a Londoner.
We aren't far out though and at 15/16 she'll be going in quite regularly, I imagine.

On balance, if I could have afforded to stay, I wouldn't have moved away.

So many activities, so much free stuff. Today we have done Young V and A in Bethnal Green, then to comic museum off Totters, then drinks and dinner in Soho with family and 10 year old.

When he was younger so many playgroups to choose from every week, such a good array of exercise classes, great schools where you meet friends for life.

Seriously, stick.it out until they start school, your life will change x

I grew up in London and have no qualms about bringing my own DC up here too. There is so much opportunity, both as they grow and when they get older. I found that you find the community in an area once you have children - it starts with toddler groups but really hits its stride with primary school. We rarely go to the park or our local high street without bumping into people we know.

Also, and I know everyone has said this already but THERE'S SO MUCH TO DO. This morning I took them for their swimming lessons (£26 a month each, local leisure centre, runs all year around - one of 5 in our borough), collected DH from 5 a side and while I was waiting for post-swimming McDonalds I checked my emails and saw an email about cheap tickets for the theatre. Booked that, we hopped on a train into town, were there within 45 minutes.

You're in a stage with your parenting where you really could be anywhere in the country, but as your DC get older you really do reap the benefit of having so much going on both locally and in a wider area.

I should add that his group of friends are from Hungary, Ghana, Jamaica, London, Italy, Lithuania and Bulgaria.

So.much.lovely food in this city, so many green spaces. Always someone to talk to....

Loving London for my 3 year old. Endless free activites, great parks, he loves all the museums and even some of the art galleries, and he has got really into going to the theatre thanks to endless kids' theatre productions.

We are in zone 5 but can be at our desks in the City in 40 mins. Our area has a lovely local community and we know many people despite being relative newcomers.

I grew up in z2/3 but had quite a different childhood to London dc now ie we played out on the street with other kids. We moved a bit further out as I felt as they got older I wanted more on my doorstep for them activity wise & I wanted them to be able to go to the park etc with their friends.

London is huge and there are endless possibilities. You can have any lifestyle you want here. We're in in North London and my daughter has a very outdoorsy life. We a have a pony and she spends all her time after school and on weekends at the livery yard with her mates. But we also go to the West End and when she was little we spent our weekends at various free museums and the millions if activities that are available here. The options in London are endless.