Guest Post: Single Mom & The City
Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 11:06AM A couple of weeks ago I launched a series where other moms would share their own Stories from the Stoop. Today, please welcome Linda! Not only is she another fab momma making it work here in NYC, but she is a SINGLE mom in the city! Amazing. This is her story...
Who: Linda, mom to one sweet daughter
Current locale: Gramercy/Union Square, NYC
When are you moving back to the suburbs?
Inevitably, while visiting relatives, someone will ask the question. It doesn’t matter if they live in California or Atlanta or Louisville or Northern Virginia, none of them can fathom why I live here.
However, I am happy living in New York City and think it's a great place to raise my daughter.
And before I tell you why, YES, it’s expensive and, YES, I wish I had more space and, YES, it’s competitive but the advantages and benefits of living in New York City far outweigh those drawbacks.
Here are 5 Reasons why New York City is a most excellent place (yes, a reference to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) for raising my daughter.
1. You don’t need a car Every destination in the five boroughs can be reached by subway, taxi or town car. Imagine, I spend $89 month for the subway versus suburbanites who spend $600+ in gas, insurance and car payments. Everything I need is within a 20 block radius - my daughter's school, doctor, dentist, supermarket, drugstore, bookstore and ice cream shop. If you really need to head out to IKEA, a day trip or just a few hours to run some errands, you just get a Zip car. And, again, who needs a car when the supermarkets and other big-box stores will deliver right to your door.
2. Museums My daughter and I visit a museum at least once a month. My daughter has been visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art since she was four. I did not go to the Met or MOMA until I was 25. My daughter can identify Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Henri Matisse and Edgar Degas. I had never heard of those artists until I went to Europe during college.
3. Parks and Playgrounds Suburbanites have their backyards but I am within 10 blocks of 3 playgrounds and odds are we run into one of my daughter’s friends. Playdate issue, solved.
4. All work and no play... My daughter and I have plenty of time to enjoy the museums and playgrounds because we don't have to be stuck around home tackling chores. Whenever anything goes wrong in my apartment, a maintenance man is on call to take care of it. No yard to mow, shrubs to trim. Enough said.
5. Community As a single mom truly doing it on her own (I adopted my daughter on my own,) I feel that there truly is a community of single moms (and older single moms, to boot) in the city so much so that I don’t feel out of place and most of all neither does my daughter. People don't give two looks to a single mom, which is so important to me so that my daughter's self-esteem and well-being remain intact.
For the suburbanites out there, don’t get me wrong and don’t be offended, I still love the suburbs. I grew up there and love being there when I visit family, and sometimes, I even it miss it but I just can’t see myself living there at this juncture of my life.
Living and thriving in New York City as a single mom...That's me.
See and read more about Linda at her personal blog, NYC Single Mom.
Reader Comments (1)
Sometimes I daydream about moving to the city and you have described why so well. But with 3 kids, I just don't think I could handle it.