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City vs. Suburb

Which Is the Best Place to Raise Baby?

By Jenn Director Knudsen

For Vardin, an academic and violinist, proximity to and appreciation of top-notch theater, museums and arts experiences always were a priority. "We lived at the American Museum of Natural History," where the dinosaur, gem, shark and Eskimo exhibits were of particular interest to her young daughter, she says. In fact, the girl's grandmother once took her to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she'd been before. The story goes the guard peered at the then 4-year-old preschooler and asked, "Do you like the museum?" "Oh," came the little girl's response, remembers Vardin. "It's nice. But I like the Guggenheim better."

Granted, not every urban center is New York City, but, Vardin argues, rare – if nonexistent – is the suburb that could expose a young child to world-class offerings more often found in cities.

When suburbanites counter Vardin's claim that they, too, can get their culture fix via a commute to the city, she wonders aloud how many people actually make that trek. Now that she lives in a suburb, she observes most families stay in town rather than venture out. "I don't know how much people really go," says Vardin of Darien, Conn. But she concedes the city isn't for everyone.

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