To ask about life in London with pre-teens

[Loranges]

I am fantasising about moving my family to London. I don't know whether it could be a reality or not, or whether moving children of this age is crazy.

Our family consists of DH, myself, and DS 10, DS 11. We currently live in the suburbs in the North. We love London and the life and opportunities that are there but in reality would it just be same stuff, different location?

Please tell me about your life in Central London with pre-teens. Do they make the most of the opportunities there?

Yes they do.

Where would you be thinking of living?

I have a 6yo and we are very central London. There is no end of something to do. We are truly spoilt for choice. There's so so many free activities for kids as well over this summer, endless choice of restaurants, there's always a buzz of something happening. But I would say it is very expensive to do anything.

Apart from free activities which there are in most places

I live around 30 mins by train into london, so 10 miles or so away. I love London, so much to do. My kids benefit from it from sports events, theatres etc. However the cost of living is very high, mainly housing

I'm a northerner who lived and taught primary school in London for 20 years.

If you are a big city person with sufficient funds to enjoy London life (both housing and the many attractions you might want to see), then it's a great place.

Is it a good place to bring up kids? In terms of population, it's as pretty much as big as most of "the North" all put together ... there are nice places, dangerous places, friendly and more reserved neighbourhoods ... and they are perhaps less obvious than elsewhere, with many areas where the seriously wealthy are living in a huge home next door to a similar house which has been converted into bedsits. I'd certainly encourage you to do a lot of exploring to find where you "fit".

I'm not in central London, I'm presuming you've got a lot of cash if you're planning to live anywhere central!

But I find London pretty safe, if you choose the right area and teach kids to have some street smarts (you know, not whipping your phone out if wandering about after dark). As kids get into teens, London has the big advantage of the public transport network - you don't have to ferry teens or even tweens everywhere all the time, they can do it themselves.

My oldest is 14 and is definitely making the most of London - they like walking around parks in the centre, going to shows and so on. Youngest is 10 and not independent yet, but I hope he will too when he's ready!

I don't agree that activities are expensive. Housing is obviously very expensive but you do an incredible amount for little or no money. There are expensive activities too but there's a LOT of free or very very cheap stuff. Mine are never home and they're not hanging on street corners either as there's so much around.

Obviously the housing is the most significant outlay but everything else would remain the same. We would not need anything bigger than a 2 bed apartment in reality.

I just find the transport system fantastic and inexpensive. We would never get out and about like that, as we are so reliant on the car to get places.

We have a good life where we are but over the past few years, I long for the type of life that a city could give us. Eating out, mixing with people from all over the world, possible schools for the DC, activities. The opportunity to create a life full of new experiences.

However, I don't know if I am just seeing the tourist side of life. Whether DC would just be sat on the games console every day, and this is all just another reality...i just don't know.

Yes - it's great. Mine are early teens now and have lots of independence because of the transport system. When they were younger there was masses of stuff to do and different places to go, loads of it free. So many museums, art galleries, parks etc etc. Mine love a wander down on the South Bank or round Soho and Covent Garden now they're older. I personally feel slightly hemmed in and would like it to be easier to get out into the countryside but I do love it here too and won't be moving.