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Agree, SF is awesome for kids, at least until school age (not that it's bad for school-age, I just personally have no experience with that yet) - it's almost al

Agree, SF is awesome for kids, at least until school age (not that it's bad for school-age, I just personally have no experience with that yet) - it's almost always nice out so they never get stuck inside, and there are tons of programs and things to do.

geebee 10y ago
Not sure if you're still reading, but there's definitely a life pattern to this. I'd say SF is great for 0-5: Fine to be in SF, doesn't make much of a difference. Parents take you everywhere, but it's all pretty compact and there are lots of fun programs. The academy of sciences, the various discovery museums, and playgrounds You're often driving regardless of whether you're in a city. 6-11: Better to be in the 'Burbs. I grew up in SF, west of twin peaks, in the 70s, and back then, it was an ocean of kids playing outside, unsupervised. There's much less of that now. At this stage of life, the kids in safe suburbs may actually develop more independence than the city kids, because it's safer for them to be outside, riding off on bikes, and so forth (really, even in the 70s, parents in many SF neighborhoods would say "you're being too loud, get out of the house and don't come back until dinner" - you were expected to be in earshot when dinner was called, but eh, everyone was called in at that hour). I do see plenty of kids playing outside in SF, once you get to the medium density neighborhoods, but overall, my guess (don't really know, I grew up in SF and am raising my kids here) is that this is better in the burbs. 12-15: Better to be in SF. You learn to get around on the bus, muni, and bart, you can go visit friends at distance, you can grab your skateboard and explore the city, usually nearby where you live. Your independent mobility is vastly better than a car dependent suburban kid. 16-18: Better to be in SF. You start getting more interested in more cultural and adult activities. The drinking age in SF (the US) will limit your access to some cultural activities for some time, but you can go to coffee shops, art galleries, museums, musical events (some good jazz takes place in coffee shops rather than bars). EDIT - eh, figuring it's pretty clear this is all opinion, and a bit from the hip. But a lot of this is actually the difference between SF and exurbs, not really so much suburbs. There are suburbs that are more accessible on bikes/buses, with enough going on to be interesting to older kids.

geebee 10y ago

Not sure if you're still reading, but there's definitely a life pattern to this. I'd say SF is great for 0-5: Fine to be in SF, doesn't make much of a difference. Parents take you everywhere, but it's all pretty compact and there are lots of fun programs. The academy of sciences, the various discovery museums, and playgrounds You're often driving regardless of whether you're in a city. 6-11: Better to be in the 'Burbs. I grew up in SF, west of twin peaks, in the 70s, and back then, it was an ocean of kids playing outside, unsupervised. There's much less of that now. At this stage of life, the kids in safe suburbs may actually develop more independence than the city kids, because it's safer for them to be outside, riding off on bikes, and so forth (really, even in the 70s, parents in many SF neighborhoods would say "you're being too loud, get out of the house and don't come back until dinner" - you were expected to be in earshot when dinner was called, but eh, everyone was called in at that hour). I do see plenty of kids playing outside in SF, once you get to the medium density neighborhoods, but overall, my guess (don't really know, I grew up in SF and am raising my kids here) is that this is better in the burbs. 12-15: Better to be in SF. You learn to get around on the bus, muni, and bart, you can go visit friends at distance, you can grab your skateboard and explore the city, usually nearby where you live. Your independent mobility is vastly better than a car dependent suburban kid. 16-18: Better to be in SF. You start getting more interested in more cultural and adult activities. The drinking age in SF (the US) will limit your access to some cultural activities for some time, but you can go to coffee shops, art galleries, museums, musical events (some good jazz takes place in coffee shops rather than bars). EDIT - eh, figuring it's pretty clear this is all opinion, and a bit from the hip. But a lot of this is actually the difference between SF and exurbs, not really so much suburbs. There are suburbs that are more accessible on bikes/buses, with enough going on to be interesting to older kids.