Preschool Activities & Meeting Other Parents (Charleston, Huntington: relocating, home, job)

[kbhend]

My husband and I are considering relocating to the Charleston area for a job opportunity in Cross Lanes. We have a 2.5 year old daughter & hope to be able to give her a younger brother or sister. We are currently living in NJ about 15 miles from NYC. The cost of living combined with the long hours away from home working/commuting have us looking for a change that will allow us to spend more time together as a family.

If we move to Charleston or the surrounding area, where would be the best places to meet other preschool aged children & their parents? In our current area there are lots of options in terms of parent-infant & parent-toddler classes like Gymboree & Music Together. Also there are lots of local parks & playgrounds. I haven't been able to find any classes like this in the Charleston area (at least based upon searching on the internet) & was wondering if I missed something or if there might be some alternatives like community centers or YMCAs with programs for infants & toddlers. What about parks & pools? Any insight is much appreciated.

[tbailey1138]

Are you going to be living in Cross Lanes or in an area like Teays Valley? If you live somewhere like Teays Valley, you would be in between Huntington and Charleston. The 2 cities themselves are less than 45 minutes apart via I-64. If you are close enough to Huntington, there are many different preschool activities through Marshall University, area churches and community activities like Kindermusik. Huntington also has a nice playground at Ritter Park and they are getting ready to start a $400,000 expansion of the playground. Here are some links and if you want more info on the Huntington area let me know.
Tim

Ritter Park
Park board closer to new playground - Huntington, WV -- The Herald-Dispatch
The Child Development Academy at Marshall University | A Living, Learning Laboratory
Huntington YMCA Kennedy Center
Huntington YMCA - Youth Programs

[David Kennedy]

Morgantown and Fairmont have 'Silly String's for kids musical improvement...begins at about 3yrs old and upward. The progarm is done in conjunction with the Universities. Our neice was in it for a few years and we enjoyed the concerts presented by those little ones...
The other things you ask for are in this northern region...as is the influence of the professional arts from Pittsburgh, Pa.
Personally, I don't believe Charleston would have the broad base of musical culture that Morgantown has. Asian and middle-asian cultures are rooted here too as are true African groups.
In the Charleston area, I would check with the churches or local temple congregations. That would be the network that would direct me to those facilities. I'm sure they exist there on some scale.

[tbailey1138]

Originally Posted by David Kennedy

Personally, I don't believe Charleston would have the broad base of musical culture that Morgantown has.

Sorry but Charleston and Huntington each have more musical culture than Morgantown does seeing as how both cities each have about 20,000+ more people than Morgantown. Charleston has several opportunities being the capital and Huntington has several opportunities through Marshall and other programs throughout the city. Morgantown does offer a lot due to WVU but not as much as Charleston or Huntington and I'm familiar with all three areas.

[creemarie]

Originally Posted by kbhend

My husband and I are considering relocating to the Charleston area for a job opportunity in Cross Lanes. We have a 2.5 year old daughter & hope to be able to give her a younger brother or sister. We are currently living in NJ about 15 miles from NYC. The cost of living combined with the long hours away from home working/commuting have us looking for a change that will allow us to spend more time together as a family.

If we move to Charleston or the surrounding area, where would be the best places to meet other preschool aged children & their parents? In our current area there are lots of options in terms of parent-infant & parent-toddler classes like Gymboree & Music Together. Also there are lots of local parks & playgrounds. I haven't been able to find any classes like this in the Charleston area (at least based upon searching on the internet) & was wondering if I missed something or if there might be some alternatives like community centers or YMCAs with programs for infants & toddlers. What about parks & pools? Any insight is much appreciated.

When I moved to Huntington, I found a good way to meet other moms was to go to a local MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) group. It's a nice way to get some interaction with other moms and also a good way for your kids to play with others their own age. Here is their website to find a chapter near where you will be living: MOPS International - Mothers of Preschoolers

Another thing Charleston has is the Avampato Discovery Museum at the Clay Center. This is a science based type museum geared toward children. They seem to have activies for a wide age range of children, so it might be worth looking into. Science Galleries

You did have a good idea about checking with your local YMCA. I can't speak for the one in Charleston, but I do know that the one in Huntington has programs for parents and children. They also offer "Parent's Night Out" where they will babysit your children for free one evening a month if you have a Y membership. Here is the link to the Charleston area YMCA: http://www.ymcawv.org/

Hope this helps and good luck with your move!

[David Kennedy]

Thanks Bailey but I try to think of my community as a regional one. Pittsburgh has the Carnegie Foundation which is very active here in Morgantown...the Buhl and Phipps people offer their gifts...we use the sporting venues of the McClatchies and the wonderful Rooney's...With the new campuses of Penn State and Carnegie-Mellon in our back yard at Uniontown and also the presence of the Pittsburgh banks our region is growing into the Pittsburgh region with a practical plan in place.

I agree that a work is in place to bring Charleston/Huntington together but it will be decades behind the area up here. And these developments are triangular...Wheeling is being brought into the loop as the gambling center to contain the crime and waste.
Speaking of the triangular nature of this development phenomenom...Our actual base here is the development of Uniontown, Morgantown and Waynesburg...with Waynesburg being the weaker link. The new interstate toll road to Pittsburgh from Cheat Lake already has the cutoff built to I-79 near Jefferson in Greene County. With the proposed factories to be built near Uniontown by our own G***/M***people, the highway infrastructure is in place to make this a reality. Uniontown being chosen for its rail service and the proximity to flat development land and friendly taxation...

As a side bar to development..UHC 'United Health Systems took delivery of its structural steel supply this past week for the new 280 million dollar hospital near the FBI facility. It will be the biggest structual steel building in Wv when completed. 600,000 sq ft
I've been watching that 50 acre building sitefor almost a year now and its good to see the construction begin. Will be the biggest hospital in Wv when completed..see their website for a look at its design. It's similar to the Ruby complex in design but wider...
thanks Bailey...have a great week...

[tbailey1138]

And this has what to do with children's pre-school activities that are close to Cross Lanes? Your first post was close since it talked about theater/music offerings but it was about 150 miles in the wrong direction. To compare Huntington and Charleston with things going on in Pittsburgh and then claim that Morgantown is better because Pittsburgh is an hour and a half away, that's just ridiculous. Many of the things Morgantown relies on Pittsburgh to provide for them, Huntington and Charleston each have on their own. Sounds like someone else is playing catch up to me. You have a great week as well DK. Good post Creemarie. Sorry this has gotten off topic kbhend.

P.S., hospital size is measured by the number of beds and the new UHC has 289 beds listed (smaller than the current 375 listed for UHC). This would make it the 7th largest hospital in WV. Here are the links for you.
United Hospital Center - New UHC
WVU Center on Aging

[David Kennedy]

Its deja vu