To want to move to a city with dd?

[toptramp]

DD is 3.5. I am back in my home town. My home town is lovely and we have many friends and a good support network BUT I miss city life. I do feel that I should stay here for the next few years as the schools are so good but the small provincial mindset an drive me bonkers. Are cities good places to bring up kids? Am thinking London, Bath or Bristol.

I'm in London and I can honestly say that compared to a lot of non city schools, the kids here are given so much more opportunities.

For example bus travel is free, music lessons are free (through school) the local council swimming pool is free (though about to stop soon) and a lot of other stuff that I don't even consider until I talk to people whose kids go to smaller village schools.

Having said that, there are pros and cons to everything but I love city life and wouldn't want to move.

If you can afford to move to somewhere reasonable then of course YANBU

We live on outskirts of london so best of both worlds
I feel better knowing that when the DDs head into teens they will have something to "do" as opposed to family who loved in the middle of nowhere and they said they hated it growing up. Also some people I knew at uni from rural area said all there was to do was sit on a hill and take acid and look at sheep. I kid you not.

So yay to city.

I have moved to London (well, Ealing, so the suburbs really I suppose) from Bournemouth so I will share my pros and cons

Pros
loads to do
lovely parks
cheap easy travel (free for children)
just that brilliant buzz- DS (9) loves it, DD is only 1 so doesn't know where she is really.
much less closed minded, multicultural etc

Cons
The expense!- in that respect Bristol may be better, love Bristol! but DPs job is London based
No family near by, so we are taunted with all that is going on, but can hardly ever get a babysitter
no beach

The same
people just as friendly
schools and nurseries just as good

Another Londoner here, I love city life and think where we live is a great place to bring up kids. Dd1 is in a great primary and there are some really good choices of secondary schools nearby, though she is a way off yet.

As well as the things Worra mentioned there is always something going on somewhere in the school holidays too.

I grew up in the London and loved it, I wish we had never moved away when I was 15. My only concern nowadays would be getting into a good school.

Mavis we're not too far from a beach though are we?

Isn't it something like 80 miles from London? (can't remember)

I must admit I'm lucky to have family here and DH's job pays better than it would if he did the same job out of London.

Well, there's cities, and then there's cities, and also there are very different parts to most cities, but, that said, I love the convenience of living in a major city.
There is so much for the children to do (and indeed, for us as adults), and of course you are near to hospitals which hopefullly you'll never need, but when you do, it's good to be 20mins away rather than 2 hours. Transport is great. People say it can be more expensive, but I reckon the choice and competition between businesses make it much more affordable than a village / small town with just a couple of shops and pubs.
Horses for courses though, innit?

I could walk to beach before though- mind you, we went to the beach in Bournemouth last week and it was really dirty. I had idealised it a bit I think!
We haven't had a summer here yet, so all we have done is a freezing January trip to Sarrf end because I had never been to Essex before. Planning to try Broadstairs next.

DPs job pays more too, and is only possible in London, but our rent is more than double.

We definitely made the right choice though

Ahhh good old Sarf End lol! Great for fairground rides...not so great for swimming

I must admit I do forget about rent because I'm an old gimmer who was lucky enough to buy way back in 1995.

I grew up in a village--in our teenage years we were all bored stupid and took lots and lots of drugs. I find small town mentality unbearable and I think the suburban/rural idyllic lifestyle is very much overemphasised

I am raising mykids inthe city-Bristol! Could not recommend it more...really diverse, loads of different 'types' of areas to choose from..summer is great inBristol, loads of free festivals and events. Easy to get to countryside. Good access

I grew up in London, moved away as an adult, then came back when I had my DS. I find it so much more convenient than living in the suburbs (we live very centrally, we can walk to a zone 1 tube station!) and I do think we save a lot of money from being close to everything and having so many opportunities for leisure and work. I often feel relieved to live here when I read on MN about families having to fork out for expensive bus fares to the library, not having any local restaurants/cinemas, no local holiday activities for children etc.

Having said that, we are lucky because we have a cheap HA flat and have family to provide free childcare. Many of my friends have had to move further out to the London suburbs when they started a family and I think that's often the worst of both worlds - still expensive housing compared to provincial towns but not really close enough to take advantage of everything in London, and people can still have a provincial mindset and rarely venture into the centre of town.

I think the main disadvantages to inner city living that I've noticed are the extra pressures on schools and NHS services (though we do have a very good NHS dentist). But we've dealt with that by partly using private healthcare, and DS has a statement for SN which means we aren't restricted to our local school, and DD was able to get into an academically selective school.

We live in a small village and I live it, we are 5-10 min drive from 2 small towns for local amenities/ shops etc, 20 min drive from Newport, 30-40 min from Cardiff and Bristol is just over the bridge so we are close enough to cities for everything they offer but the kids can grow up in the country jumping in puddles and going on gruffalo hunts.
Regarding when they are teenagers I woe rather they sat around the park drinking cider than roaming the city streets in a gang.

We live in London and I love it and so do the children who are now 13 and 17. DH's job is based here. The DC, I would say, are also relatively streetwise and when we meet up with friends who moved out genuinely seem to be a bit older then their counterparts.

Providing you have enough money to move to a good part of London - a two bed flat in a nice road here would be £350,000 minimum, then it's a no brainer but if not then you may be taking a risk.

London life is brilliant if you have money; but it is cheek by jowl and there are problems with gun and knife crime and gang cultures and you only have to step over the line into the wrong territory and I wouldn't want to have a teenager here.

Consider carefully the schools - primary is no problem but hop over to the secondary boards and read up on some of the concerns once they reach 11. Fine if you have a child who is exceptionally clever, if you go to church or if you can afford independent.

I wouldn't live anywhere else in the world.

I live in Bath. I work in Bristol and London. I moved to Bath from London 10 years ago. I grew up in a small village in the north-west.

The first six months I lived in Bath I found it a bit provincial. But I now love it. Lots to do. Great to travel into town. Bristol, which is more vibrant and multi-cultural, is close by. I like that the city is small enough to allow the kids the opportunity to do the things I did In the small village - at primary school age they can call for their pals, walk to school and explore for a couple of hours. It's got loads of things to do for us all.

Though family and friends aren't to be dismissed. It took me six years to stop me wanting to move closer to London and my friends and brother and sister.

Me and my partner grew up in small villages and found it interminably boring, especially when you're ten miles from anywhere interesting and there are only five buses a day. I'm lucky, though: his village didn't even have a bus route. How are you supposed to have independence when you're a teenager and can't drive yet?

I learned to drive and escaped to a city as soon as I could. It's fantastic here: there's so many people, opportunities, things going on. There's transport and jobs. I'd never go back to a village.

I moved to a village 90 miles from London after living there for 15 years. Love it! 15 mins from two biggish cities, evrything I need for daily life inc. Several shops, doctor, dentist, gym, schools, pubs and restaurants within walking distance. Huge choice of things to do, train or bus to both cities several times an hour. 5 theatres. Have been able to join two groups that I couldn't join in London as it was impossible to drive to them and public transport took too long. We go to London for museums or a wander around every month or so. And the rent on my 4 bed house is £500 pcm less than I rent my 1.5 bed London flat out for.

I never understood people whose ambition was to move to the countryside. AND DO WHAT? These people were more often than not studying things like Astrophysics...good luck with that.

Grew up in a small city, now in a slightly bigger city. Unlike my hometown, this one has things like a cinema - that size'll do for me. One where there is a cinema and a shopping centre. I wouldn't mind living anywhere bigger than that. Even up to the size of London. But a tiny hamlet with a post office and a pub? NIGHTMARE.

I can strongly recommend Bristol. I grew up there and loved it. It has so much going for it, the dock area, beautiful Clifton and Redland, the Downs and loads of alternative type stuff in the Central area if that takes your fancy. Also the country and seaside are very nearby with good trains and buses. Sadly I don't live there currently because of DP's job but Winchester is a good alternative. However, I would definitely move back if I could and as a big city it has all the great aspects of a big city but far less crime and pollution than many others.

I am only 24 and miss the city I went to uni in already, I got a job near reading and live just outside of reading and unless i get the train into london there is very little to do. Or am I missing something? UK companies have made a bad choice setting up offices in this sterile business park area along the M4 they would get much better people to work for them if they were in cities.

Villages are ok if you can stand the locals, nice for little uns, village school and all that (again, if you can bear the coffee mornings with the same people again and again and again, then the school run with all the same faces)
The mere thought fills me with dread, so we didn't do that, and moved somewhere more built up but a short walk to green spaces and rolling hills. There are so many activities for the kids. It's only on here that I realise how little there is on offer in other places
There are downsides as well but overall I prefer it. Think it will be better for the kids as teenagers as well, but we'll see

Villages are ok if you can stand the locals, nice for little uns, village school and all that (again, if you can bear the coffee mornings with the same people again and again and again, then the school run with all the same faces)
The mere thought fills me with dread, so we didn't do that, and moved somewhere more built up but a short walk to green spaces and rolling hills. There are so many activities for the kids. It's only on here that I realise how little there is on offer in other places
There are downsides as well but overall I prefer it. Think it will be better for the kids as teenagers as well, but we'll see

JoJane - It's not compulsory to be part of a gang if you are a teenager in a City you know . Indeed, I suspect 99.something% of City Teenagers aren't in Gangs - it's just, all those that are pleasant, normal kids, don't make such great headlines.

If you can afford somewhere nice, then fine, we are small but nice location! Whe my sister lives, I wouldnt but if it we gold plated (she was burgled three times one year and mugged at knifepoint a couple of times). Kids have access to so many amenities and clubs. Of course, it is all pretty expensive though. And kids travel free, so that is a bonus too.

Or I would move further out within striking distance. It depends where you work. If you moved out one direction and worked in the opposite (so away out west, and worked Focklands) then communting would be a mare.

Oops. Docklands not focklands (although.....)

Yanbu but I am biased. We live on the edge of London in a suburb on the main line to waterloo. I love it. The best of both worlds. DH is from a tiny village in the SW which I always thought must have been lovely to have been bought up in. He assures me it was very dull. It's different strokes for different folks though.