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Today we introduce a guest writer, PQ Dad, an E Street resident who can be found exploring PQ with his wife and their little girl. PQ Dad is often out with his digital SLR capturing images from all around our neighborhood. We look forward to more posts exploring PQ from a parent’s view.
Is it just me, or are there more families living in Penn Quarter / Downtown? My wife and I are the proud parents of a nine-month old girl, so we may be a bit more sensitive to seeing other families downtown than the average downtown dweller. In our building alone, there are at least five families with kids, and some of us even live in one-bedroom apartments (myself included). But I really do think there are more families choosing to stay downtown post-baby, and I think that’s actually a good thing for Penn Quarter.
It wasn’t too long ago when we were telling our friends that we were expecting a baby. The second thing out of most people’s mouths after telling them the news was, “So when are you guys going to move?”
I think it’s a foregone conclusion these days that when you have a baby downtown, it’s time to give it all up and head out, i.e. move to the suburbs (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I think this is a misnomer, and I’m happy to see other families bucking the trend. Plus, after living with a baby for nine months downtown, it’s actually turned out to be pretty cool.
We have the National Mall as our yard during the good weather days, and we have many inside alternatives for when the weather is not so great. We are able to walk or take the Metro to pretty much everywhere we want to go. It’s pretty good living, if you ask us.
So for those of you thinking about having a baby, but are worried about living downtown, I say forget about it and stop worrying. Take advantage of living in one of the best neighborhoods in DC and come join us on the Google PQ Parents group!
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Comments
I agree that it’s great to live downtown with children. As long as Fenty wins, meaning Ms. Rhee will still be here to plug away at the schools, I intent to stay downtown (because we don’t make private school money). Otherwise, I will be looking at our options a lot more seriously.
I have loved living downtown for my first year of motherhood. I love being able to take advantage of so many places by just walking out the front door. Especially when she was so small. I think if we had lived farther out, I would have felt trapped. It is wonderful to have an excuse to explore new areas in the neighborhood. Plus living in a really small space makes you keep the baby stuff moving out of your home and be way more selective in the first place.
I look forward to reading more. And more activities with the PQ Parent’s group
I dislike having children in apartments next to mine. They tend to be loud and dirty and are better suited for being in a house.
I have plenty of loud, dirty, and disrespectful neighbors in my building, and none of them are children. My 1-year old is a model citizen compared to them.
Children tend to reflect on their parents. I’ve found that most objectionable children also have annoying parents. Same with dogs and their owners. If we all respect one another in apartment buildings and are sensitive to the annoyances that our noisy dogs and children can cause and act to mitigate those annoyances, we can all live together happily. The trouble arises when parents or pet owners (or people playing loud music, etc., etc.) are not sensitive to their neighbors and make no effort to be good neighbors and have a “This is the way it is – deal with it” attitude.
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Hear Hear
My wife and I moved to PQ 6 months ago. I have a 13 year old son that visits for weeks at a time, several times a year. It is great to know that there are other families living in the neighborhood. While we do not have any kids together (yet), we certainly plan to and will probably stay in the area.
Like PQ Dad, we also live in a one bedroom, but with an older child, there are a lot of challenges that have to be overcome. I believe that if he lived with us full time, we would have to upgrade to at least a two bedroom.
Beyond that, I can’t think of a better place to raise a family. After all, this is where other people bring their families for vacation. We have the added benefit of always having all the great sites and culture in our backyard!