London Childhood

[daisiessunflowersandtulips]

In Laws are adamant we should move out of London when the baby's born. Apparently it isn't a "good environment to bring up children in". which they wouldn't know because they never bloody visit. I am to this because I grew up in London alright, but they seem to think I was terribly deprived.

Here are the things I missed out on (and which my in-laws always bring up)
-playing in the street. Neither I, siblings, friends, cousins, ANYONE I know who grew up in our parts of London (leafy zones 2-4) ever did this.
-knowing who our neighbours were. Well we knew who the ones on either side were and they didn't have kids. We didn't know any of the other kids to say hello to and frankly that was fine by me.

Here are the things we got
-being allowed to get ourselves to and from school at a younger age than DP and his siblings and other friends outside London because schools comparatively closer, roads busy in a suburban sort of way with traffic lights not an A-road busy way.
-going to wonderful parks to play, Heath, Golders Hill, Clissold Park, etc. Parents came with when we were younger and then we could go by ourselves.
-being able to go to and from friends houses independently by 9 or 10 if if were short walking distance or 11-12 if it were longer walk or bus by ourselves and not have to hang around getting lifts
-loads of museums, cinemas, art galleries with kids stuff on

Now London might not be to everyones taste and I TOTALLY get that. But you're telling me it's worse than some pissy town in the middle of nowhere with no transport links to bring up a child? Seriously?

"When I used to live in London, I would blow my nose at the end of the day & the tissue would be black."

There was a thread on this recently and the consensus was that London no longer creates black bogey's!!

I live in zone 2 and don't have them and I cycle everywhere!

scrabbling around in tiny flats.

That may be the case for those living in zone 1 but not really true anywhere else.

Sorry been skim reading but just want to correct this idea that the biggest reason to get out of London is the schools. Educationalists are in fact studying the 'london effect' to try to work out why London schools are so much better at adding value than the rest of the country.
There's loads of brilliant stuff about this on the FT, but just today's here's another called 'London state schools the best in the country' all vindicated by hard facts
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2c0866fe-dbca-11e1-aba3-00144feab49a.html#axzz22kuJaSOw
So whether or not you want to live in London, the schools if anything are a factor to stay there.

Is that true Hesterton - my mother is a teacher and her view is that it is hard for proficient English speakers in that type of set up. She reckons she spends such a long time trying to ensure all instructions are understood that she she has less time for anything else. And also that, because she has to make sure that the second-language children understand, she finds she has to simplify her language to words they now. Now, she teaches key stage one, so maybe it is less of an issue teaching older children. And, as she says, it would be less of an issue if she had adequate TA support.

PollyParanoia we moved out of London for schools. There were some fab schools within walking distance but the catchment areas were tiny and the house prices within those catchment areas were high. The schools we were in catchement area for were seen as failing schools.

Moving out of London meant we didn't have to comprimise on school v house, we could have both.

The black snot still exists, but you only get it on the deep Tube lines IME. Apparently it's harmless.

(We also have a house with a garden in London, and it certainly didn't cost millions! Not in a posh, leafy or trendy area, true, but you can't have everything.)

I think it depends on your life style/what you want to do.

We moved from SE London (Forest Hill) to a coastal village on the South Coast and it was the best move we ever made (DH works in shipping so down here is the best place for him to be really). Life is much slower and laid back compared to the hustle and bustle of London

We have a bigger house and bigger garden (with fields and streams nearby), we're a 2 minute walk from the beach and we live a much more outdoorsy and cheaper life. Schools are better and opportunities for the things my children are interested in are plentiful

I hated it at first and it took a while to get used to the slower pace, but now I wouldn't go back if you paid me.

SiL still lives in Forest Hill. She loves it, her kids love it, they have different interests and lifestyles so it suits them down to the ground.

Different strokes for different folks

lol at the black snot

We moved from Stoke Newington to South East London a couple of years ago and we love it. Did have a conversation about moving out of London but decided that we wanted to stay but also wanted a house. I grew up in a town in the South West and hated it and drinking / drug taking etc rife so it defintely isn't solely a London problem. I've always made sure that I make the most out of all the London and use museums etc as much as possible. I love it but I can see it's not for everyone. My ILs live in Cornwall so we are lucky that we get there quite a lot as well. I could never live there though but that's just me and I still love London after 20 yers of living here.

hellorogersmellyonthe etc oooh you sound in my neck of the woods (i.e. "North"). I hear you! Somone on here said people in small towns just stare at you when you eat out as you are not local and all the food is substandard . I am looking forward to taking DS to the London museums when he's older but for now am loving Eureka, Magna etc etc. The only thing I would like is to be closer to the seaside.....

Oh and My SIL lives in London and they are adamant their children are not going to the local state school. Unless it's the Church one. So it's probably going to be private school. Couldn't afford that.....but don't know the background of the schools in question, so have no idea how U she is being.

People are gettign off the point anyway - it's none of in laws business and there's nothing wrong with London.