To belive that my children are having a great childhood in London?

[mrsruffallo]

Annoying woman at parent and toddler grouip today.
She was noisily proclaiming her intention to leave London before her child turned 5 as it's an awful place to grow up!
I said if not here, where?
There is so much to do, lovely green spaces, much better than being stuck in the middle of nowhere
Turned into quite a lively discussion

[NaccetyMac]

Having worked in schools in Tottenham and Barnet, I think the colour-blind claim is a beautiful lie. The kids I worked with tended not to mix outside their ethnic groups. (83% of the kids at one school had English as an additional language.)

Where we were living in West London, we were in a very "working" class white area (" " because there is not a lot of work.) Women who came to toddler groups wearing Hijab were shunned, the Mums who wore Niqab stuck together in the school playground. I had a friend who was from West Africa (we started talking because she baby wears and uses cloth nappies, lol), I was actually told off by other parents for talking to one of "them." Lots of talk in the toddler groups about the BNP etc... a lot of racial problems all round.

DD is not "colour blind," it's an unrealistic claim. Of course she notices ethnicity, in much the same way as she notices hair colour or pretty shoes - it's a visual thing! I am also not colour blind - I find it useful to recognise someones culture, to know a bit about it and be able to talk to them with interest and not fear offence!

[GibbonInARibbon]

I was born and raised in London. We did move out to start a family and have never regretted it. Still visit often, DH still works in the city and family and friends still there but I would not trade where I live now for anywhere else.

[Morloth]

YANBU, mine thinks that the Natural History Museum is for him and gets annoyed in the summer when it is full of tourists.

On the other hand I do want him to experience an "Australian" childhood as well, so we will be heading home before he gets much older.

[MrsChemist]

My dad lived in the city for a year. That would be a sucky place to bring up kids, mostly because no one lives there, and the only people who go there are business people. The nearest pub even closed at the weekends because it's entire clientèle were 9-5, monday to friday business workers. It was kind of eerie being in the centre of London and it be so quiet.

Other than places like that, I don't see how bringing up a child in London would be any different to bringing up a child in any other large city.

[cerviniasun]

Most of my ante-natal class moved out of london before the DCs started school. Main reason was always financial - i.e. couldnt afford a big enough house in a nice enough area in London and/or wanting to be nearer to the DCs grandparents. What I always found annoying though is those who did it largely to have a bigger house/garden going on and on about "quality of life".

Personally, I think being able to walk everywhere with so much for us and the DCs to do is a better quality of life than having an extra bedroom or bigger garden, but to each his own...

[franch]

YANBU

The DCs and I adore London - wouldn't live anywhere else.

I too am sick of others slagging it off. For us, there's nowhere better, thanks very much

[Chillohippi]

We moved away from London a couple of years ago when DS was a baby, believing that we were going to be bringing him up in a greener, more friendly place.
Now, nearly three years on, we are planning to go back. We miss London, the variety of people, the opportunities, and mainly the conversation. I find that where we are living now is far to 'small town' for us, as both DH and I grew up in London. We've decided that we would rather live in London, with the dirt, the foreigners and everything else that people moan about, than here among the depressed unemployed with no opportunities, and a large number of village idiots.

[kif]

yanbu

[Rhian82]

I knew of a family that moved out of London, to Cornwall, for those sorts of reasons - ooh, lovely, country, out of evil big city etc. They moved back after not very long. In London their children had been able to walk everywhere ? in Cornwall they'd barely been out of the car, because everywhere is so spread out! They'd got much more fresh air and exercise in London.

[BitOfFun]

Re the phrase "mixed schools", I hope it was obviously a shorthand for the "colour-blind" theory people were discussing. Excuse my relative lack of politically correct phraseology.

[JeremyVile]

Funny old thread.

If its London that gets slated - I'm not seeing much evidence on this thread but plenty of the reverse.

Its surely not necessary to get all huffy about other places just because you'd rather not live there - its all subjective, neither is inherently better.

[albinosquirrel]

I think its what you make of it.
I would question how many people actually take their children to museums/theatres etc on a regular basis (same for people without children - how much do they actually do that they couldn't do in a small town/city/suburbia) - same with the countrys side though - a lot of people won't make use of the things they claim to like.

That said I don't think you could stay in London because of the green open spaces - parks are very nice but they are nothing compared to the "real" countryside

[franch]

BitOfFun - I'm the mum of mixed-race DCs and am Mrs Politically Correct. Can't see much wrong with the phrase 'mixed schools', esp in the context of this discussion.

You're right, JeremyVile. I personally couldn't stand living outside London, but quite understand people making other choices. It's those who make out that not whisking your kids away to the suburbs is tantamount to child abuse that I get weary of.

[Chillohippi]

You are right about the countryside, albinosquirrel. That is one thing we will miss when we go back to London.

It is all subjective, yes. It's what's better for a person personally.

[Habbibu]

What always entertains me about these threads is how it's either London or the middle of nowhere - there are lots of things in between.

[franch]

I'm with you there albino.

We go to the theatre/cinema at least once a fortnight, and probably use the major museums about once a month. In between, there are loads of other brilliant events and facilities we take advantage of. It's an utter joy, and I'm constantly telling the DDs how lucky they are to be 'real Londoners'.

[OrmRenewed]

"If its London that gets slated - I'm not seeing much evidence on this thread but plenty of the reverse"

Yep. We are all inbred, narrow-minded yokels who wouldn't know what to do with an sun-dried tomato if it jumped up and bit us

It works both ways.

[OrmRenewed]

And may I just say that for those who insist that if you bring up kids in the countryside you are miles from everything, well it depends on what you mean by 'everything' doesn't it? It is possible to live without constant shopping, cinemas, restaurants. You have friends to play with, space to do it in, streams, rivers, mud etc. It's fun. Just a different kind.

[Habbibu]

Well, there are also cinemas, theatres, museums and shops in Other Cities. Who'd have thought?

[Chillohippi]

I wouldn't know what to do with a sun-dried tomato

[misssurrey]

I think, OP, that if I were in a confined space with other people who love London then I would just keep it to myself about how much I hate the place and wanted to leave.

But it's also good to be able to see that not everyone loves the place and might want something different for their children, as is shown on this thread...C'est la vie.

[TheFoosa]

I live in deepest Devon and have to say, I would LOVE to live in London

my sister is horrified when she comes to visit - "what do you do if you run out of fags?"

[BetsyBoop]

I would hate for my children to grow up in London, or any other big city. However I wouldn't go spouting that a a toddler group in said city

We live in a small town now, not rural enough for me (grew up in a hamlet of just 11 houses ) but strikes a nice balance for now of having amenities close at hand for the kids & not being too urban.

[OrmRenewed]

thefoosa - that is what we found when we stayed with DB. DH wanted a paper so instead of popping out for one it was a major expedition! So whereever we live in my fantasy it has to be near a shop!

[bibbitybobbityhat]

Yanbu.

I really want my dc to grow up in London. We know loads of really cool people who grew up where I live now and, shock horror, even emerged unscathed from the local comprehensives with a good education and went on to University.

I moved away from London for two years pre-dc (dh's job) and couldn't wait to get back. Am here to stay, hopefully.