Hellobee Boards

@umlo: Why doesn't she think that raising kids in the city is a good thing? DH and I live in NYC and we think it's one of the best possible places to raise kids because of the incredible amount of opportunities and activities available to them. If our kids are interested in music, sports, astronomy, chemistry, etc, we have full confidence that there will be some resource in NYC that will allow them to pursue that passion. The arts and culture aspect is also amazing, as is the amount of diversity--even if our LO is in a class room with mostly white, middle class kids, walking around the streets every day, he/she is sure to be exposed to a variety of people from all walks of life. Basically, we feel pretty strongly about the benefits of raising kids in the city (we're also both products of that, as we both grew up in Queens--so I guess we're a bit biased! :)).

I think there are pros and cons to both that only you and your husband can decide what will work best for your child.
My husband and I battled with this decision for years, literally, when we were deciding on where to settle down. Whether we would stay where we are (Upstate NY) or move to NYC to be closer to my family. Ultimately we decided that staying where we are was the best move for our family and the way we want to raise our children.
I have to admit my biggest push for NYC are all the reasons hilsy listed. And they were my biggest fears of staying here. I did NOT want our child to be one of those I saw on the NYC Subway growing up....18 and it was their first trip to the "big city" and on public transportation!! That's not how I want our kid to be like.
But then the more I thought about it with my family being in NYC our kids will be in NYC at least 2-3 times a year from birth. So they will get exposure of the big city as a regular part of their life. And although we're upstate and live in the suburbs the area is actually really diverse and full of culture. Not to the extent of NYC but it is still available to our kids.
And honestly, being the product of a German/Irish father and Chinese mother how can you not be diverse.

Anyhoo...back to your original question. My family obviously wanted us to move to NYC. They could not understand why we wanted to stay in boring ol upstate where there's NOTHING to do. Because you know we live in the "country" and everything closes down at 8pm. I mean come on things are open till at least 10pm! hehe. My ILS were more supportive I think of whatever we chose to do.
I think my family has finally accepted we're staying put when we purchased our "forever" home.

For what it's worth I grew up in Manhattan but when I got older we purchased a home in Queens. My brothers when they got married purchased a home in Queens and Staten Island respectively. They both wanted the house with "backyard" just not to the extent that my husband and I have.
It's cool because my nieces and nephew will get to experience suburbia, huge back yard with inground pool through their time to visit us!