Should We Stay or Go?

Many people think they have to move out of the city after having children, but why? I’m all for raising city kids. They’re smart, savvy, and open to new experiences. My husband and I chose to raise our daughter in downtown Boston. Here’s why it was one of the best decisions we ever made.

A Convenient Lifestyle

Being able to walk everywhere is a very big deal, as anyone who has moved to the suburbs from the city or vice versa will tell you. My husband, daughter, and I walked to work and to school every day. We had lower stress levels because we didn’t have to sit in cars in nerve-racking traffic. We saved time driving place to place and avoided the headache of searching for parking. Instead, we spent that time living. It was a gift. We walked to dinner, whether it was down the block or across the city, did all our errands on foot, and mapped out our course for the day to pick up essentials or specialty items.

The city is convenient. Everything is right there, or a short walk away. My daughter experienced the beauty of the parks every season. In the winter, I pulled her on a sled to school, and on big snow days, we’d go sledding in the Boston Common with all of the neighbors, which was our shared “backyard” instead of some golf course miles away. Within less than a mile, there were any number of restaurants with many different kinds of food. The pleasure of being able to walk to dinner, and back home again is hard to overstate.

Then there’s commutes. If you work in the city, living here gives you time back. Forget traveling an hour or more to get home from the airport. Having time with your children is the greatest luxury.

People in Your Neighborhood

There is something so joyful about walking down the street and running into a neighbor. There are so many people you see every day, though you may not always know their names, you know their faces. You’re a local, a friend. On Charles Street, the owner of the hardware store and his staff greet you with a big hello and drop everything to help you. Since the boutique owners hand out dog treats (clever!), your dog will lead you into every business with treats, and there’s a lot of them! My daughter walked to school most of her childhood, and there were wonderful neighbors I could call on whom she could safely visit after school while my husband and I were still at work.

Getting Schooled

There are both public and private schools in the city. I have met many people who move into town from the suburbs because their kids are already in private schools, so why stay in the suburbs?

Expensive private schools aren’t the only option in the city. Many families who can afford it go private until middle school and then, provided their kids can pass the test, send them to Boston Latin, one of the most prestigious and highly ranked public schools in the country. Boston Latin lets in more than 2,000 kids a year—a considerable number.

There’s also Boston Latin Academy, another well regarded public school that requires only a test and Boston residency to attend. So many people have explored the options for sending kids to school in the city, and there is a lot of information online about this topic.

World on a String

Museums, theatre, the symphony—Boston has some of the best cultural offerings of any North American city. Free music at the Hatch shell, seasonal festivals, and other frequent fun happenings round out city life. You don’t have to make a major effort to come into the city. You can just walk down the street or hop on the subway.

You can stumble across an outdoor concert, see Shakespeare in the park, get last minute tickets for live theatre and take a walk or quick T-ride to premier museums like the MFA, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, or the ICA. Or you can go see the seals at the aquarium while doing errands in the North End. Or—one of our favorites—take the Red Line to Harvard Square and visit the Harvard Coop bookstore, then cross Harvard Yard to the Natural History Museum.

Visiting the North End for a feast or Chinatown for some amazing dim sum gives kids a worldly awareness that is a neighborhood away. My daughter loves cuisine from all corners of the globe because she was exposed to it her whole life, and I think she appreciates it now more than ever! Boston is a diverse city, and it’s good when kids are exposed to people from all walks of life. They learn there are other cultures, and other ways of thinking, and they add to their view of the world. It’s an important matrix.

Staying fit

Boston is one of the best running cities in the world. I can name eight great loops off the top of my head that breathe life into me every season of the year. I ran through seven months of pregnancy, then ran with a baby jogger, and now my daughter is a marathoner and overall fitness enthusiast. On weekends in the fall and winter, we ran together on the Charles River, swam at the University Club or played squash and then went to lunch and shopping or to a museum.

When the kids are little, the numerous playgrounds around the city and in every neighborhood make it easy to get out of the house and meet new people without the dreaded planning of ‘play dates’! We had instant play dates by heading to the playground, to the Frog Pond for ice skating or sledding down Mt. Vernon St. during the real big nor’easters when everyone is out in the streets because we are snowed in! Magical.

So, before you leave our great city, consider staying right where you are or maybe try a different local neighborhood. They all have unique and charming differences. My daughter is still a Bostonian, currently living in the Fenway, pursuing a full life of work, sports, creative interests, volunteer work, and travel.

Jessica Crimmins has lived in Beacon Hill for over 30 years. She serves on several nonprofit boards, including the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, and the Nichols House Museum. She helped raise funds for the Park Street School in Beacon Hill, which her daughter attended. Jessica has held executive level marketing roles at MetLife, John Hancock, and Santander and is currently a marketing and communications consultant and advisor. Find her at @beaconhillre or @Jpcrimmins.