Activities for small children in Detroit

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by 313Weather

Well let me ask you this then, what's your definition of a "park."

If you're discussing something like Belle Isle, you're going to have to arrange a trip to a park like that no matter where you live.

Actually you can live right on parks like this. People live where Kensington Metropark is in their back yard (and other parks as well). You can also live where your yard is like this (we do now). Just not in the city. Many suburbs have areas where you can let your kids run through the adjoining back yards or even play in the street without much concern (not a 1 or 3 year old).

Everyone has different ideas of a decent park, but I think most would want to at least be able to get out of sight and hearing of traffic and construction. To me I would like at least 100 acres with some woods and a lake or a stream. A place where kids can get something different than the school playground. Of Course at 1 and 3 years old, you do not need much for the kids benefit. They are not going to care whether there is a tree or a telephone pole. Everything is interesting and exciting to them at that age. A nice park is more beneficial for mom's sanity.

When we lived in a city (not Detroit, but not that different, a bit nicer in most places), my kids mostly played in a huge parking lot that was empty in the evenings. It was a vast sea of pavement where we could bike, skate, run, skip a Frisbee. . . .there was even a huge pine tree on one side where you could sit in the shade It was fine for them, but not ideal to me and my wife really did not like it. We had small parks, but they were gross because they were small and got too much traffic. Thus the grass was mostly dead, often the ground was saturated with dog and human pee and defecation, sometimes there would be used condoms laying around, broken glass, even used needles once in a blue moon. I think that I woudl add to a "nice park" a requirement for grass, and that it not be used for partiers, hookers, or bangers at night. Also it should be cleaned daily, especially if it is a small park.

Having done both, I can say unequivocally that City living is not ideal for Children. Particularly in cities with major economic problems and a primarily impoverished population. While I enjoy lving in a city, and if we did not have kids, I would like to live in Downtown Detroit, or Corktown, Indian Village etc, I woudl not live in Detroit with kids. In fact that is why we do not live in Detroit right now. Otherwise we probably would have bought the old Fisher house in Boston-Edison (I think it was in B-E. It was for sale in 2005 or 2006, not sure if it ever sold, it was a while ago, and I do not remember the location. Beautiful house though).

At a very young age like the OP is discussing, I do not think that it matters very much where you live. 60 square feet is enough room for them to play outside. Until they are 5 or 6 and can play more independently, it is really more about Mom and Dad's personal preferences. If our kids were that young, we might have bought that Fisher house and just put in a really nice fence. If I remember correctly it had quite a bit of land and/or an adjoining empty lot that we could buy and merge in to the existing property.

[Mighty in Michigan]

For children from 2 to uper teens, there's Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum, in Farmington (or Farmington HILls). There are rides for the little ones and plenty of games for the older set--including mom and dad. In the summer, you might also try the wave pool at Lake Erie Metro Park, in Browntown Township. The park is open year 'round and also has an 18-hole golf course, a marina, boat launch, nature study area (the Marshlands Museum-a hands-on kind of place that's great for kids); there's fishing and ice fishing along Lake Erie; basketball, tennis and volleyball courts; picnic shelters, a sledding hill, children's play area; and hiking and cross country ski trails.

IN addition, thereps Oakwoods Metropark, in Flat Rock, that has a wonderful nature center, a nature study area, a horse trail, three-mile hike-bike trail, voyateur canoe programs, fishing along the Huron River, and picnic shelters.

[djones87]

Based on school - best choice to rent is grosse pointe park. I hate to say this but no where in city of detroit will be on your list once you are here - basic services like police, fire and ems are not there and crime and blit are ererywhere.