Pros and cons of raising kids in a big city (Houston: apartment, loft)

[Kiovo]

Like the title states, what do you feel are the pros and cons of raising/having kids in the city versus the burbs?

[Cbink]

Originally Posted by Kiovo

Like the title states, what do you feel are the pros and cons of raising/having kids in the city versus the burbs?

Whereabouts? Apartment or house?
There are some nice family areas close in but it depends if you're sacrificing space and will be cramped to be close in.

We moved to the burbs when our son was born as we wanted more space and a pool and we couldn't afford that within the loop (well maybe we could have theoretically but it would have left us house poor which wasn't an option).

I'd say it was all personal opinion and dependent on budget. There's a lot of stuff inside the loop (zoo, children's museum, discovery green etc) which are good with kids. That being said a lot of the MPC's have pretty cool splash pads etc and my wife gets to use them through her moms clubs out here.

We love it out here, but it's not for everyone.
We're really close to bike trails and plenty of trails to run on.

[Kiovo]

The reason I started this thread was a continuation from the Katy thread where there were different of opinions from people who live in the city. Some felt that people who move out to the burbs are mindless robots and felt they had to because they now have a family. And that it was because they're racist and elitist and are scared of the big bad city.

My husband and I lived in the city before kids and after having kids (and the oldest was school age)we decided to move to Katy. This was not a quick easy automatic decision. We had to weight the pros and cons of the city versus burbs. And after we decided on burbs we had to figure out which burb would best fit us. We took home prices, locations, schools, and crime into consideration. After that we broke it down even more to what that burb had to offer, what freeways or tollways would we have to use.

We absolutely feel like we made the right choice in picking Katy. Our house/neighborhood fit all our requirements, we love the schools, and it has a really nice community feel.

[Schumacher713]

I grew up in the Galleria area. I don't know one single person that did not go to college. It is not if you go. It is where you are going to go. I think the biggest downfall of living in the city is simply the cost. My brothers friend moved from Katy last year to the River Oaks. He said that he did not want his daughter to go to school in Katy because the school has gone down hill. He had two boys that went through Katy. I am not sure which HS, but I am assuming it was one of the best considering he is rich. I think it just depends. I think it is worth it if you can afford it. Living in an area with good schools is expensive.

I think most move to the burbs simply because it is cheaper. Others grew up in the suburbs and that is just what they like. To each their own!

[annie_himself]

Depends, by city do you mean Westchase? Or do you mean the Heights?

Originally Posted by Cbink

There are some nice family areas close in but it depends if you're sacrificing space and will be cramped to be close in.

I hope you aren't reffering to the space between the houses. Most of these newer MPCs and subdivisions are nearly void of trees and have about 6ft of space between them. If you can't deal with a smaller house then you aren't designed for urban life. Nothing wrong with that though. I prefer the style of older homes versus the tract homes that dominate the suburbs.

[testmo]

So you created this thread to further your argument from another thread? I grew up in kingwood in the 90s and early 2000s. I live in the city now and dont imagine myself living in suburban houston or any other city as i get older. I like being close to city hubs. In the burbs i went to school with plenty of people who were drug addicts, dropped out, work retail as adults or just got pregnant that i doubt any city schools offers much worse. Its just their kingwood parents set them up in an apartment or a house. I live in a fairly affluent area inside the city and i wouldnt expect things to be any different, except i have a more fun time being close to the city. If you dont care about big events, museums, theater, top restaurants than you dont need to be close to the city but in my opinion thats depressing. In houston people in the suburbs live so far away and are in so much traffic they never seem to do things in the city (based on my experience of some family and friends). They never leave their neighborhod. If you didnt work outside the house i dont know how you could keep yourself sane or sober.

Its also a generational thing. Im fairly young. A lot of younger people are looking for urban lifestyles and are increasing staying in cities to raise children

[Kiovo]

Originally Posted by testmo

So you created this thread to further your argument from another thread?

No, the other thread was going off topic with the back and forth between city and suburban life. I'm not furthering my argument but if anyone wanted to keep debating it they can here, and not clutter the other thread up.

[Schumacher713]

Originally Posted by testmo

So you created this thread to further your argument from another thread? I grew up in kingwood in the 90s and early 2000s. I live in the city now and dont imagine myself living in suburban houston or any other city as i get older. I like being close to city hubs. In the burbs i went to school with plenty of people who were drug addicts, dropped out, work retail as adults or just got pregnant that i doubt any city schools offers much worse. Its just their kingwood parents set them up in an apartment or a house. I live in a fairly affluent area inside the city and i wouldnt expect things to be any different, except i have a more fun time being close to the city. If you dont care about big events, museums, theater, top restaurants than you dont need to be close to the city but in my opinion thats depressing. In houston people in the suburbs live so far away and are in so much traffic they never seem to do things in the city (based on my experience of some family and friends). They never leave their neighborhod. If you didnt work outside the house i dont know how you could keep yourself sane or sober.

Its also a generational thing. Im fairly young. A lot of younger people are looking for urban lifestyles and are increasing staying in cities to raise children

This is generally what I hear from people that grew up in the suburbs. Lots of drug addicts, dropping out, getting pregnant, not going to college, etc. I don't have a single friend that did any of those things. I know obviously there are plenty that do in the city. I think that is mainly in the poorer areas. I have friends that went to several different public and private schools. It is a myth that the suburb schools are better than the city schools. You just have to live in a good area. The more rural the area it seems fewer go to college. I have friends that grew up in tiny towns and they said they were the sole person to go to college.

Also, you can own homes with big lots in Houston. There are lots of big ones in Garden Oaks that are semi reasonable in price. Obviously, there are lots of big lots in the rich neighborhoods, but they are in the millions.

[radiolibre99]

I would say the issue is poverty in both the rural and urban areas, but really it's not. In poor areas in the city a lot of the problems are socio-economic, clearly poorer schools, less opportunities and crime. In Katy, I saw a lot of problems from middle class kids and even some upper middle class kids. The problem in Katy, I saw from my personal experience, so don't get this all twisted, it's purely anecdotal, was cultural. Kids growing up in poorer inner city areas are met with less options and some grow up uneducated. But in places like Katy where I saw the problems of drugs, debauchery, not going to college and early pregnancies, the kids growing up there were willfully ignorant. A lot were racist, they had a crazy level of keeping up with the joneses mentality, super traditional, and hypocritically conservative.

I lived a typical white upper middle class life in Katy, house on several acres, dad owned construction firm, Christian conservative family, popular in high school, but after going to college, I saw it less and less as an idyllic place and found WAY more opportunities in the city, more diversity, less racism and more open mindedness. Inner loop Houston is a world class metropolis, why would ANYONE who had the money to live there keep themselves or their kids from experiencing such a dynamic city? Why?

These are the questions that run through an inner loopers mind and I wish people out in the burbs would understand rather than get their knickers in a twist and assume we all think outter loopers are backward reactionaries. Different strokes for different folks. I respect that, but this notion that that life outside the loop, heck going way way out there is somehow more idyllic or sensible sounds so ridiculous to a person living a great life in the loop.

Seriously, you're never going to convince a person living in a loft in the loop that there is something sensible about commuting from Katy to Downtown every day.

[jojobeans2]

You can't use your friends as examples lol... People make friends that are similar to themselves, if you were the type to go to college, most of your friends would be too. I'm sure there were people who did drop out and do drugs, etc. Those ppl were in their own friend circles...