Families with Children tell me about Dallas... (Houston, San Antonio: houses, neighborhood)

[mamawithpeace]

Currently, we live in St. Louis, MO which is not at the top of my list for family friendly cities. My husband has some job prospects in Dallas and will be going to several interviews. I was wondering is Dallas family friendly?

I know the schools depend on what area you live in, but what about parks, museums, science centers, etc....To be honest I do not know much about Dallas. We have also lived in Raleigh, North Carolina for and to me that was a family friendly environment.



Are there any areas that are more geared to families than others?

Thanks!

[Macbeth2003]

Dallas has lots of parks, We have several excellent art museums, and both The Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center have great facilities to interest kids. The science museum (which keeps merging with other museums and changing their name) is in fair park, and it is great. We go often.
The Dallas Zoo is good to, the Gorilla habitat is one of the best in the world, and it is right off the rail. Downtown is the Dallas World Aquarium which, while expensive, is an amazing place to go with kids.
We also have the Dallas Children's Theatre which offers a full season of kid's theatre.
Schools are often generalized by district, but that can be misleading. Make sure to check specific schools, not just district information. For example DISD has huge problems, but the school mys on goes to is fantastic.

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by mamawithpeace

Currently, we live in St. Louis, MO which is not at the top of my list for family friendly cities. My husband has some job prospects in Dallas and will be going to several interviews. I was wondering is Dallas family friendly?

I know the schools depend on what area you live in, but what about parks, museums, science centers, etc....To be honest I do not know much about Dallas. We have also lived in Raleigh, North Carolina for and to me that was a family friendly environment.



Are there any areas that are more geared to families than others?

Thanks!

Dallas is very family friendly, especially the suburbs like Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, Garland, Rockwall, etc. The schools ain these areas are very good and there is a lot of nice houses there as well.

In Dallas, we have many museums and parks. The Dallas Museum of Art is neat. We were just there the other day for the King Tut Exhibit. That was neat! Also, the Dallas World Aquarium is really neat!

[sonshinelife]

I ditto what the others have said.

Also, I think Dallas is what a family makes of it. There are tons of churches of all backgrounds, Numerous libraries in the various communities, little league, pony league, rec leagues, scouts, etc...to keep your children involved. I keep my son very active in sports and other activities. I feel he has been very blessed with many of the cultural activities that Dallas and for that matter Fort Worth has to offer.

Another point to consider is that Dallas has a huge mix of people from all over the US. I find that really cool because it exposes my son to many cultures and traditions from all over. Hope this makes sense.

Also, to be honest...I've lived here my whole life, over 40 years, and I still haven't done everything there is to do in Dallas much less Texas. I really don't think you can go wrong coming this direction.

San Antonio, Austin, Houston, etc....are all within easy drives ( I think easy..others may disagree ) I think that is why I like it so much. Dallas is located in an area of the state that makes it easy to travel to other surrounding states for quick get aways with the family. Also, there are many places within Texas that offer fun weekend getaways for families.

I know this is much more than what you asked...but you can tell I love Dallas and I love to share Dallas and Texas in general with my son.

okay...I used "also" a million times in this response...I think it is time for me to go to bed... I'm too tired to edit and revise.

[jblack62]

Hi! We live in Seis Lagos, outside Dallas and the kids go to the Lovejoy School system... it's excellent!! Lots of children in the neighborhood and FAR from noisy highways/interstates (which Dallas has a lot of).
You can get details at [url]www.seislagos.info[/url]
They update that site pretty often and the photos seem to really reflect the family activities we have here.

[sevenboyds]

Hey! I grew up in St. Charles and my husband and I have lived in many places and have been here in Dallas for about six months, so don't take this as gospel, but this is what I have noted.

Forest Park has it's equivalent in Fair Park, except for the hiking/biking trails and many sports fields that Forest Park offers, Fair Park has the stadium in it that I can't remember the name of right now. The museums are good. Museum of nature and science is like the Science Center and the Magic House put together minus the slide. The other museums I haven't been to, but the big difference there for me is that they are not free, which many of the Forest Park museums are at least partially.
The zoo is good, it has a cute kids area with a wading place, but it is not as big as the St. Louis Zoo and again is not free.
There is a botanical garden, but it's not as big as Shaws Gardens and doesn't seem to be as research based as Shaws or maybe it just focuses on different areas, but it doesn't have the tropical and desert climate domes.
We live in Farmers Branch and the parks in the area are great. A lot of them are near water. The historic park has activities for halloween and Christmas and the 4th that are fun.
The libraries are good, and the ones in the city are networked, but the ones in the suburbs are not. We lived on the ouskirts of Chicago for a while and at my tiny library branch I could access the catalog and order books from any library in Chicago and they would send them to my branch for me to pick up. St. Louis is similar, but here I have 4 library cards to the 4 closest libraries and I have to go to that branch to pick up a book from there.
I love the atmosphere here. The people seem more friendly and less self involved than I found Chicago or Seattle.

Overall I like it here although I stay home more often than I would in St. Louis beacuse with 5 kids museum entrance fees get expensive. Again my disclaimer, I haven't been here that long and there might be some things that I just don't know about, or, like the Mesquite rodeo, just haven't tried.

[**NoodLes**]

I think almost any city is better than St. Louis!! xcept Detroit