Louise Hawson and five-year-old daughter Coco explore NYC via Central Park and Craig’s List.
I’ve had a love affair with Manhattan for more than 20 years. But that was before I sprouted a mini-me. How would NY be with a five year old I wondered – for her and me? It doesn’t after all spring to mind as the perfect place to visit with a pre-schooler. But then I’m not a Fiji kids’-club kind of gal either. Two weeks into a month long stay, here are my five golden rules for making the Big Apple work for tall and small.
1. Look beyond the obvious. Entertainment wise, NY is actually perfect for kids, as it is in effect one giant playground. Central Park has 21 actual playgrounds to explore and there are plenty more dotted around the island. Then there’s the less obvious entertainment. FAO Schwarz, one of the largest toy shops in the world, isn’t just wall to wall toys; when we were there my daughter was torn between playing a ball game with one of the friendly assistants or missing out on story-time in the book corner. What I love best though is the stuff you can’t plan for or predict. Like watching Beyonce strut her stuff while having a sticky-beak at luxury department store, Bergdorf Goodman. My daughter may not know who Beyonce is but she was fascinated by the woman in ten inch heels peering over her sunglasses as harried shop assistants ran behind her with an overflowing clothes rack.
2. Don’t stay in a hotel. Aside from the fact they’re too expensive for anything longer than a few nights, they lack that homey feeling kids love. Better to find a cute little B&B, of which there are many. If you’re staying for longer, consider subletting an apartment from somewhere like Craig’s List. I found an atmospheric little bolthole in Greenwich Village for US$600 per week. The advantages are many: relatively cheap accommodation; we feel part of a real neighbourhood, complete with its own psychic shop and harmless crazies; the apartment is small but large enough for my daughter to have her own corner; it’s comforting because Mum’s in the kitchen almost every night as usual (grrr) and there’s no anonymous hotel feeling or hotel staff poking their heads in at any given time. In short it’s a home, even if it’s only a home for a short time.
3. Take turns: first we visit the playground and then we visit the art gallery. Upshot: we’re both happy. It’s not rocket science but sometimes easy to forget when you’ve got a ‘must see’ list as long as your arm. Better to do less but do it well – nothing worse than standing in front of the most amazing view/painting/frock with a nagging little person pulling at your legs because they’ve been dragged around for hours with no kid-friendly breaks.
4. ‘Self-guide’ where possible. I wanted to take a tour of Harlem’s historic districts. But how many brownstones can a five year old take? I decided to be my own tour guide, reading up on the buildings and mapping out the route the tour would take. Then we jumped on the Number 2 subway train up to Harlem ($2) and self-guided. I could relax, knowing that if my daughter jacked up half way into it I could press pause for a quick kid-friendly break at a park. Less stressful and much cheaper to boot.
5. Engineer play-dates. Don’t know anyone with kids in NY? Be brave and ask any friends who do know New Yorkers with kids if they wouldn’t mind meeting up for a play. Most people are quite happy to meet a few new faces, especially if they’ve got interesting travel tales to tell. It’s worth the effort; when I told my daughter about a play-date with a kid she didn’t know and a boy at that, she was so excited. Who cares if he’s a complete stranger and he’s not a girl. He’s someone who’s her height and on her wavelength and that’s all that matters.
In a nutshell: Don’t rule out NYC with kids, just follow the rules and you’ll both have a ball.
A disclaimer: my daughter is easy going, curious and loves meeting new people – a born traveller. If your child is less flexible – or a boy who isn’t content to spend at least some of the time in a small apartment while you catch up on sanity-making reading/day-dreaming/whatever – you may have a different experience. But in the end, it’s about expectations – don’t expect to see and do everything and don’t expect it to be relaxing like reading-book-on-beach relaxing and you should have fun.
