I am constantly amazed at how kid-friendly New York is turning out to be. When my
husband and I decided to move back to Manhattan with a 9-month old from our spacious apartment in Chicago, I was terrified. The motherly panic that was ruling my life at that point was, “WTF am I going to do with her in New York City?? Take her to McSorley’s for lunch? Chinatown for kareoke? East Village for getting into trouble after midnight?” My sole experience with NYC from my twenties only included bars and clubs for the most part, a few delis, and some laundromats.
But much to my surprise, within two weeks of moving we were going to church playgroups, inside play spaces, children’s museums, regular museums, parks and playgrounds, yoga classes, and library programs. In fact, the motherly panic that took over at this point was how the hell do I turn down things to do?
I’ve even panicked that I’m doing TOO much with her (it will give her a short attention span!). But then I hear about a new soccer program for 2-year olds and the panic switches to, “Oh shit, she’s not involved with a sport yet!” This then results in my husband signing her up for a $300 6-week swimming class. Whew!
As any New Yorker will tell you, this city sucks you in and before you know it you’re over-booked and over-spent with all the amazing activities it has to offer. This applies to parents too—we’re eating Ramen Noodles this month to pay for our baby-sitter bills from last month! Some things about NYC never change.
Every week it seems I’m discovering something new that’s
completely necessary and also extremely fun to do with my toddler. This past week it was Bi-lingual Birdies at the Inwood Library.
This event was FREE, my daughter interacted with everybody due to the talent and engaging personality of the singer/group leader. She learned two new words in Spanish! Paco (duck!) and manzano (apple!). I think she might also know roja (red) but she’s still working on rolling her Rs. I think by next week she’ll have it down and I’m expecting her to order me a burrito at the local Mexican place on the corner in fluent Spanish. And I was thinking, over the summer, I’ll look into Algebra for 24-36-month olds. I’m sure she’ll be done with her multiplication tables by then because I’m paying out the ass for our Pre-pre-pre-K math tutor. I jest.
Moral of the story: If you’re reading this because you’re pregnant in Manhattan and are panicked that the city is no place to have children, no worries, you’ll have more to do than you can handle.
