Toronto = Kids ? No, Yes, Maybe?

Based on the article http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1225927–deputy-mayor-doug-holyday-s-remark-draws-strong-reaction-from-families-raising-kids-downtown that states Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday does not think that Toronto is a place for children.  Well actually he specified a specific area.  So I would agree that not all areas of Toronto are the best areas for children but I cannot support anyone who would say that Toronto is not a place for kids to grow up.  I will say that Toronto is not the first place people think of when raising kids.  There is a certain type of person that wishes for this.

 

There are some great advantages to this and just as many disadvantages.  The pros and cons are from any area and should be considered when looking for a new area to move to especially if you have or are thinking of having children.   You need to think of what you and your spouse expect for a lifestyle and what things can you put up with.  We can easily say that Toronto has  a higher percentage of carcinogens than the majority of Urban and Country areas.  Based on the population size there is a large number of vehicles, air conditioners and other man-made products that add to the green house, heat and pollutants experienced in Toronto.  Now vehicles is an issue personally for me, but I would not choose to live on a busy street with my children for the fact of an accident is just that, an accident and is not planned for at all.  I am not saying that because it is Toronto your child will have a 50% chance of getting hit by a vehicle but I am looking at this fact.  More vehicles on road for longer periods of times increase the statistical percentage that your child will have a much higher chance of getting injured or killed by a vehicle than other children from other areas that are not a metropolitan city.

 

Now we can all agree that no matter where you are there is a park you can get to.  In a large city sometimes you do need to walk farther than others but in the country a park will typically not exists since the farmer’s field next door or the corn fields behind the house will do perfectly for a day of activity.  So you can always get to a park since we are in Canada.  Now what other differences would we experience.  Well there is heat.  It is a fact that Toronto is typically 2 to 3 degrees warmer than other areas due to the heat from emissions combined with the thermal heating effects of black tar spread out through out the whole city.  Is this really an issue.  I do not put much emphasis on it as you can always stay inside or go in to another building to escape.

 

For activities, any area will have something unless you are looking at a remote location.  Then you may need to travel further to get to a specific destination.  So is there any benefit to being in the city for activities?  More choices is what you get when you look at Toronto.  I do know that even in Toronto you still have to travel to most areas to go and do something.  You may be close to something but not everything.

 

Quickly concluding this.  It seems to come down to a personal choice.  What do you enjoy?  I enjoy waking up in the morning, reading the news, watching the neighbourhood fox run to the neighbour’s house for its morning meal of bread and scraps, listening to the birds chirp, watching the water and sometimes, most days, enjoying the cool breeze off of Lake Ontario.  That’s right, I get all that Toronto has to offer with more nature and fewer vehicles.  I know why I live where I live.  I will mention that it only takes 45 minutes with traffic to get downtown from my residence as well.