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Hello, everyone. I need serious advice for my friend on pros/cons of living in Manhattan vs. Long Island. I would especially appreciate advice from people who have resided in both areas.
Situation: He works and lives in Manhattan. And he is thinking of getting married and settling down. He is affluent enough to live and raise his future family in Manhattan. He can even send his future kids to prep school in Manhattan. However, he is not sure where to raise his family because he is attracted to the incentives of living in both areas.
I believe this is not very unusual scenario and a number of you guys must have thought about this dilemma. My questions are the following.
1. What decision would you make if u were him?
2. What are the pros/cons? Why does pros/cons of living in one area outweigh another?
3. He wants to make sure he doesn't make a decision that comes back to haunt him. He doesn't wanna say later, "I took it for granted living in Manhattan or LI. I didn't know how blessed I were to live in Manhattan or LI. I only realize now but the bus has left."
Raising a kid in Manhattan....oh Johnny, don't move from the front cement of our wonderful building, ignore the man urinating on the street, and remember, your playdate with Buffy is at 3pm sharp.
In my experience working with kids who have grown up in both, is that the kids who grow up in Manhattan seem to age much quicker (not necessarily mature). They are going "out" much earlier and are hyper-sensitive to their surroundings. Some would believe that is a positive, I for one would not want my children to grow up too quickly. Long Island kids tend to be a bit more naive but just as prone to drugs and alcohol as "city" kids. I grew up in North East Queens and moved to Plainview to raise a family, so I guess you can put me down for LI.
Hello, everyone. I need serious advice for my friend on pros/cons of living in Manhattan vs. Long Island. I would especially appreciate advice from people who have resided in both areas.
Situation: He works and lives in Manhattan. And he is thinking of getting married and settling down. He is affluent enough to live and raise his future family in Manhattan. He can even send his future kids to prep school in Manhattan. However, he is not sure where to raise his family because he is attracted to the incentives of living in both areas.
I believe this is not very unusual scenario and a number of you guys must have thought about this dilemma. My questions are the following.
1. What decision would you make if u were him?
2. What are the pros/cons? Why does pros/cons of living in one area outweigh another?
3. He wants to make sure he doesn't make a decision that comes back to haunt him. He doesn't wanna say later, "I took it for granted living in Manhattan or LI. I didn't know how blessed I were to live in Manhattan or LI. I only realize now but the bus has left."
Thanks in advance for any insights.
Manhattan and have a summer place on LI for recreation. Reason? The connections they get in those Manhattan prep schools are invaluable for life. (If I were one of his kids, that is where I would want to be.)
PS: did you ask this question on the NYC board to balance it out?
I personally was born and raised in the city and went to prep school. I believe those bunch of kids are not as common as people think. Post college, I worked in the city, and rarely would meet anyone who grew up in the city, went to prep school, and ended back in the city. Many of those kids ended up as ex-pats... or moved out west... or ended up in the ultra high society.
I agree with the statement that city kids grow up quicker for better or for worse. At the end of the day it's a culmination of the child and their surroundings. Some exceed... some fall through the cracks.
I am a big believer in timing and choice. Your choice is dictated by the timing in your life. Thus... I am now living in LI, and for the first time in my life... living the suburb life I never had.
I would first look at who the parents are... my parents had their reasons for raising me in the city... knowing full well of how crappy and unsafe it was to be in the city during the 1980s. They believed it was the right thing to do for themselves and for the kids. The suburbs were not an option.
As a new parent now... it was the complete opposite. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of living out in the suburbs (since I grew up looking down upon it), but at the same time... I realized that I could better appreciate and take advantage of the pros of living out in the suburbs to provide for my kids. The cons were things I felt I could ignore or control.. or the fact that ignorance was bliss for never experiencing the cons.
So I guess look at the parent, and I think you will find the answer there.
Side note... my kid is prolly gonna be a dime a dozen with every other suburb kid in good neighborhoods in terms of life experiences. Does that matter to me? Not really. I learned that having these unique "experiences" might get you into Exeter/Andover/Groton or any ivy league MBA program... but it sure doesn't mean you will up with confident happy people.*
* assuming that thats what we are talking about.
BTW, I am starting to like it out in the burbs... so I am in the LI crew.
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