Raising kids in Detroit/Highland Park

[lincoln8740]

My wife and I are raising our son in Midtown and we are grappling with all of the issues mentioned above. I think our main motivation for raising a child in the city is the hope of exposing him to a more wordly existance. Access to museums, concerts, festivals and quality architecture are within walking distance. If I had the money to move to London or Paris, I would, but in the meantime we have the poor man's version here in Detroit. Yes, safety is an issue, but Midtown and Downtown are much safer than the many of the neighborhoods around the city.

I want him to understand the benefits of living a more compact lifestyle with a smaller carbon footprint in a densely populated area. Plus, I am putting my money where my mouth is. I spend my hard-earned in and around my neighborhood and only occasionally visit the suburbs for shopping. I bike to work and can spend my lunch hours with my family at the park.

So long story short, there are issues to deal with living with a family in the city, but for me, it's more about a lifestyle choice that i enjoy.

Living the hipster doofus dream is one thing but when you CHOOSE to raise a child in Detroit-- all I can say is that I truly feel sorry for your children

[ScienceFair]

Living the hipster doofus dream is one thing but when you CHOOSE to raise a child in Detroit-- all I can say is that I truly feel sorry for your children

Man, I love the positive vibes! I can always count on Lincoln8740 to show some love.

I think there are some articles on the freep.com that don't have any cynical/antagonistic comments on them yet, better hurry before someone beats you to it!

[lincoln8740]

Man, I love the positive vibes! I can always count on Lincoln8740 to show some love.

I think there are some articles on the freep.com that don't have any cynical/antagonistic comments on them yet, better hurry before someone beats you to it!

Whoops sorry forgot you live in lala land: great choice of a city to raise a child in the schools are great, the streets are safe and hopefully your son/daughter can be in charge of their own urban farm when they grow up!

[DetroitPole]

Living the hipster doofus dream is one thing but when you CHOOSE to raise a child in Detroit-- all I can say is that I truly feel sorry for your children

I really value your opinions. Why? Because everything you say is the exact opposite of everything I want to stand for and the exact opposite of everything I believe is true and good in the world. If I'm doing the opposite of whatever vapid, ridiculous, shallow, right-wing garbage you're spewing, I know I am doing the right thing.

"There is not one place in Detroit where your kids can safely play flashlight tag outdoors. "
Wow, there is one for the ages. Is that a fact, eh? Sounds like a challenge from somebody who apparently knows absolutely nothing about Detroit who has the audacity to say that from Washington. Can you tell that from there? Who wants to get some kids together and safely play flashlight tag somewhere in the city limits? I guess if you get down to it, there is really no place on earth where one can safely play flashlight tag, since kids seem prone to self-destruction.

In all seriousness, "culture" is something almost impossible to define and almost totally subjective. However I applaud you both, ScienceFair and Planner. Good luck to you.

I've spent years in both the city and suburbs [[currently city, never to look back) and I can say while many of the suburbs are nice places, they've done a big disservice to some of the kids who grew up there. It's hard for many of them to understand a world outside their cul-de-sac, and it makes for some very frustrated and maladjusted individuals. In a very different way, so does growing up in the ghetto.

Of course, none of these good people are advocating subjecting their children to the ghetto. They've indicated they want to live in the nicest areas of Detroit and provided plenty of good reasons. It's a double standard for you people who scream about living in the suburbs as a personal choice to then attack these people for perfectly rational personal life choices. Hell, I'd sure rather raise my kids in IV than in someplace like Novi, and I have every right to feel that way, and plenty of good reasons too.

Frankly, the best people I know were raised in Detroit way after the glory days - i.e. the 1970s, 1980s to present day. Just well-rounded people.