The 10 Best Cities for Families.

Yahoo ^ | Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:28am PDT | Parenting.com,

[wbill]

You want the best for your family, and that includes great schools, affordable homes, low crime rates, plenty of jobs, and lots of parkland. So we crunched more than 8,000 bits of data in 84 categories to determine this year's top places to raise kids. Plus, see the complete list of Best Cities!

1. Washington, DC

The history, the government, the breathtaking architecture and inspiring monuments—you don't have to be a child to get an amazing education in this city. Our nation's capital is also known for its plenitude of museums—in fact, there are 44, second only to the Big Apple! If your kid enjoys visiting the National Air and Space Museum, imagine fostering his love of airplanes with trips to nearby Gravelly Point Park for front-seat views of the takeoffs and landings at Reagan National Airport. The Capital Crescent Trail, a hard-surface trail from Georgetown to Bethesda, MD, developed on an abandoned rail bed, is a great bike trip that is off the beaten track.

Family dinner nights are easy at quirky local favorites like Matchbox restaurants or Busboys & Poets—both provide a place adults and kids can enjoy. And, of course, any child growing up in Washington, DC, will have a special place in his heart for the famous cherry blossoms and festival held each spring.

[wbill]

Any "Family Friendly City List" that starts with DC, is worth a chuckle, I thought.

Rest of the top 10 are:

Austin

Boston

Minneapolis

Des Moines

Madison (WI)

Honolulu

Omaha

Seattle

Louisville.

Madison was worth a yuk or too, as well. There's no shortage of affordable fun in Madison, which ranked third on our list last year. Madison gets the “green” light for loads of bike trails, lakes, food co-ops, and farmers markets, including Dane County Farmers' Market at Capitol Square, held Saturdays at the foot of the statehouse.

"Come to Capitol Square! Get Assaulted by Protestors! Dodge Riot Police! Don't forget to bring a gas mask, that tear gas can be nasty on a humid day...."

[Mr. K]

Best to raise your children in liberal cesspools?

I dont think so

[choctaw man]

1. Washington, DC

The history, the government, the breathtaking architecture and inspiring monuments

Yessir, see all the sights, smells, tastes, culture of the nation’s capital...take a safe and leisurely stroll anywhere in the city, and any time of day or night with the family; it’s comforting to know that your nation’s capitol is the best city for families!

[MNDude]

Haha! That’s what I thought. What the heck is Minneapolis doing in the list too?

Unless if you like:

Endless pan-handlers, rude Somalian taxi drivers, waiting behind gang-bangers and welfare queens to use their WIC cards.

[SVTCobra03]

What a joke. Try taking your family thru DC at night. Good luck with the urban zombies. Austin is fine if you want to your kids to grow up to be Marxists.

[DrC]

“Any “Family Friendly City List” that starts with DC, is worth a chuckle, I thought.”

Ain’t that the truth! Obviously “quality of public education” wasn’t a factor given much weight in this compilation, but perhaps the list was intended only for parents wealthy enough to afford private school.

[Dilbert San Diego]

It’s hard to believe that the city of Washington, DC, is on this list.

If we’re talking the entire metro area as being a good place to raise kids, maybe they have a point. But, not within the District itself. Among other things, no middle class family would want to send our kids to District of Columbia public schools. So I sure wonder how they came up with the educational component of their index, when the District has some of the worst public schools in the nation.

And if they mean the entire metro area, there too, the middle class will be priced out of many areas. Unfortunately, in many areas around DC, many formerly nicer suburban areas have gone ghetto.

[Chandalier]

Seattle? I live in King County and no one wants to raise their kids in Seattle.

[wita]

The longer “they” keep the real winners secret, the better I like it.

For the listed bunch, maybe Omaha, and maybe Des Moines should be at the top of the list.

[John O]

You must have posted the wrong list. All I see are liberal hell holes. I don’t even want my family to VISIT those places let alone live there.

(OK I may let her visit DC just to see how far we have fallen)

It seems to me that the moment you say “city” you have eliminated the place as a good place to raise a family.

[MNDude]

ohh... here’s there reasoning why Minneapolis is a great place for a family...”Minneapolis the designation of being a Bike Friendly City from the League of American Bicyclists.

Also a cultural hot spot, Minneapolis is home to the Hennepin Theatre Stages, which hosts Kids’ Nights performances (The Lion King debuted here before heading to Broadway). Or visit the stunning Gehry-designed Weisman Art Museum to inspire a child’s interest in architecture.”

Theatre stages and Art Museums. Top on all of our “must have” lists I’m sure \sarc

[wbill]

yup. About the only top-10 lists that DC should be on are all crime-related.

Unless it's the "Top 10 Worst School Districts in the country". It might make that, but there's stiff competiton to be #1.

[mad_as_he$$]

Now that right there is some funny $hit. I don’t care who you are!

[Grunthor]

“The 10 Best Cities for Families.”

There is no such thing as a good city for families. I cannot believe that list STARTS with D.C. and includes Seattle. With chitholes like like on the list, why not Detroit?

[RightOnline]

Some of the choices, fine.....but clearly you see a liberal bias (and someone who probably doesn’t have kids). My God, don’t they realize there’s something called “cost of living”????

[television is just wrong]

it is not put your /sarc, very dangerous there

[freespirited]

Apparently this writer is not familiar enough with DC to know that it doesnt belong here. I wont live in a city where 911 is known to put people on hold.

[wbill]

I'd take the kids to DC. Air and Space is worthwhile (I've not been to the big hangar yet, that's on my personal list).

But there's a huge difference between visiting a city for a couple of days to hit a museum or two....

....and calling it "family friendly".

Wonder if the person who drew this up, is actually from the US? Article might have been outsourced to India.

Or, the author doesn't actually *have* kids. Just saw some playing in a park once, or something.

[television is just wrong]

any and all congress/senators with kids, put their kids in private schools cause it is so great there

[mikeus_maximus]

I have found yahoo! to be an extremely biased, liberal organ. It is no coincidence that they have used a source listing some of the most liberal cities in the US as “best places to raise a family.” They know nothing of family values.