Finances and Kids

[tomer]

I suggest to check out your financial stuff before having a child.

[wincrasher]

You'll find nothing in my post that says you must have a suburban single family home with a yard.

I'm saying that you have to have a decent home and a place for the kids to play outside. An asphalt parking lot is not a decent place no matter the location. Some apartments have green spaces and playgrounds, many do not. Some are near parks, some are not.

If you've ever been to NYC you'd know there are parks, YMCA, school yards, etc., so there are options out there.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

You'll find nothing in my post that says you must have a suburban single family home with a yard.

I'm saying that you have to have a decent home and a place for the kids to play outside. An asphalt parking lot is not a decent place no matter the location. Some apartments have green spaces and playgrounds, many do not. Some are near parks, some are not.

If you've ever been to NYC you'd know there are parks, YMCA, school yards, etc., so there are options out there.

Sorry if I misunderstood. Of course, I grew up in the city (Philadelphia) and even though we had lawns, more often than not, we played in the street or in the driveway behind our houses, so on asphalt or concrete.

[zetta]

For me, financial stability was the easy part. I was ready to buy a house with a large downpayment on my own in a HCOLA by age 27, and if I'd been married certainly could have afforded a child.

Finding the right person to marry took a long time, as did getting pregnant. (We met at 28, married at 30, and had our first child at almost 35.) The upside was by that time our income was sufficient to easily afford IVF and being a SAHM.