Raising Kids in Chicago, Bad Idea?

[ChangedEssence]

Many people do it....and many kids come out wonderful....it depends on how hard you are ready to parent and the support group around you, relatives and close friends. Kids growing up in the city need a lot of personal interaction with loved ones...The whole wide world of good and bad will be on the other side of your door. Bad things can happen anywhere, kids can go astray anywhere....It's the parenting style that can lesses or heightens the risks....Please Please make the major thoughts be about thier education, where are they going to get it, what do they have to travel through to get there safely. Sad to say you can't just move to chicago and know that the nearest school is going to be adequate....8 out of ten times the nearest one won't be.

[chet everett]

I generally do not like to comment on threads that have large gaps from when the OP started BUT given some of the other chatter...

Firstly, let me say, as I have before, that I have personal friends that ARE 'raising kids' in Chicago. Some of these folks are active in the various parenting communities. I have not had a chance to talk to them this week, but I will in the next two weeks or so and I share THEIR comments then.

I have a fair number of colleagues that are racial minorities. Each and everyone of them said this week that with the kind of blatant violence that was clearly displayed in the attack on the school ages kids there is NO WAY they would not be helping any relative that wanted to get to the 'burbs to get out NOW. These are people that mostly grew up in Chicago and, because of work, now live west / northwest. This is not an isolated thing. It was like "I used to think the fears of some of my friends were over blown, but seeing a kid beaten to death with a railroad tie tends to slam reality in your face..." comments that I heard from half a dozen people.

That said, IF you do have the ability to avoid the FAR TOO MANY schools in Chicago that are quite obviously the battlegrounds for this sort of lawlessness then it is possible to have a shot at getting into schools like Northside or Payton and going on to a top notch University. Somehow though, I do not feel that kids that go that route are going to really consider living in Chicago / raising kids here UNLESS some very hard to effect changes are made and soon.

Personally I do not think Huberman is tough enough. Yes I know about his background, but I just do not believe he deals with the sort of gut wrenching struggle it takes to have kids in Chicago and the shear level of stress that parents, especially low income families, have to deal with. I will not say that he is clueless, becuase he clearly is a smart guy and he works hard. I just do not think he has the moral authority to walk into a classroom where there is a broken down teacher whose inaction is fostering the lawlessness and say: "GO HOME, never come back". Further I do not believe that CPS has done anywhere near enough to have a SWAT team of teachers that they could call on to send to a school that is mostly staffed with broken down teachers and turn things around.
Even if both things change, which takes way too long, there are still a so much that really does make life in the City with kids tougher than in many suburbs. The City is both easiers for kids to wander from safe areas to unsafe areas while tougher for them to get to places to just hang out. After school activities are much more plentiful in almost every suburb. The access to Chicago's cultural institutions is about equal for suburan and Chicago kids, as Metra is generally no slower than CTA for much of the region...

Sure for adults who want to hang out Chicago has a very different feel than even the hippest parts of Evanston or Oak Park, but for anyone with kids Chicago is many things that need fixing FAST.

[colinhayes]

I live in Logan Square and there are plenty of families living around me, and a daycare about 4 doors down. Rent is cheap, and I'm about a 3 minute walk away from the blue line.

I don't have kids, and don't plan on it for a while, but I wouldn't be afraid of raising them in this neighborhood at all.

[Banx]

Yes, every kid here is a gun toting maniac who has made money off of selling crack at least once in his (or dare i say, even her) life... Take me for example.

Just kidding.

But don't listen to some of these people though, ethnicity does not matter in Chicago, that is an outdated viewpoint. It's how you carry yourself, and your street smarts. People who say ethnicity matters, have no street smarts. Simple as that.

If you want to raise kids though in good areas, check out Lincoln Park, Wicker Park/Bucktown, Lakeview, or Hyde Park, maybe Logan Square. Humboldt Park is not a bad area, just up-and-coming. I don't know why someone would confront a person on what they were doing there, I see plenty of lame hipsters and neo-hippies around here in Humboldt Park (yes I live here) who could easily get their heads knocked in by some Latin Kings, but somehow it doesn't happen. You'll find alot of people on these forums love to exaggerate, so take everything with a grain of salt.

[gobearsgo]

Renting in Evanston or Oak Park is actually a great idea. You can get downtown to work and visit your friends easily by taking the L or Metra train and they have a much more urban feel than St. Charles without the problems with Chicago's schools.

The problem with raising kids in Chicago is that there are very few good public schools, magnet schools are very difficult to get into, and private schools too expensive for most people.

If Evanston and Oak Park are too expensive, look into other burbs that are more easily accessible by train.

[Drover]

Old thread.

[M60608]

Originally Posted by booyah7

Can it really be that bad to raise kids in Chicago?

Not if you are a good mentally stable parent , many single mothers raise perfectly fine and normal kids in ALL areas of Chicago.

If you want to party and go out all the time after work and on the weekends and leave your kids at your friends houses and be a bad mother then yes it is a bad idea.

Remember there is no YOU time , raise your kids until they are out on their own and successful , then you can do whatever you want.

[quicktalk]

I'm very sorry for the loss of your husband, and to be left alone with a young child is a very difficult and lonely situation for you. I can understand how much your old friends mean to you at a time like this. I have a suggestion that might help. I know it is hard to reach out for support in a new neighborhood, but if you join a bereavement group it might give you some peace of mind. Local hospitals and churches are good places to find a group of people around your age who are also coping with the loss of a spouse.

I have to tell you frankly that you will never find a public school in Chicago that can begin to compare with what the St. Charles schools can offer your child. There simply are no excellent public or private schools in Humboldt Park. And of course you will need to be much more careful about personal safety for you and your child in Chicago. All the best to you.

[chicago_home]

You could also checkout west loop - it has all magnate schools (elementary & middle/ high school) plus more reasonable...