New York with small kids

Expedia has commissioned me to write a piece on travelling to New York with young kids, presumably because most people would read that sentence and think to themselves WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT ARE YOU CUCKOO NEW YORK CITY WAS BUILT FOR COCKTAILS AND RESTAURANTS AND SHOPPING LEAVE THEM AT HOME WITH GRAMMY AND POPPOP FOR THE LOVE OF BAGELS.

As it turns out, not only is NYC entirely do-able with kids (the people who live there even have some of their own!) it’s fun. And it makes for a pretty exquisite set of memories. I say this because last year my husband and I spent six weeks in summery NYC with our four year-old boy and 14-month-old girl. Partly for my work, but mostly because we love that city, and our kids are not yet locked to the school term, so we can afford to be a bit cavalier/ambitious/obnoxious with our trips.

We arrived in NYC after six weeks of training in Greece and Italy, where we perfected the art of constantly moving into new places, and eating pasta and pizza every day. We chose to stay in three different areas of NYC. This is because:

1) If we booked one home for six weeks and it was noisy, (HAHAHA JK, every place in NYC is noisy) or it sucked, we were stuck

2) NYC is huge; there are so many areas to explore, and limiting ourselves to just one felt silly

3) We enjoy packing and re-packing suitcases, schlepping them up and down lots of stairs, and making our children feel displaced and confused.

We began with two weeks in a cosy apartment in SoHo. This was ideal, since my work was based there, and we could get all our favourite NYC restaurants (Sant Ambroeus, il Buco, Minetta Tavern etc) and shopping out of our system so we didn’t spend the rest of the trip hankering for the part of Manhattan we know and love best. Our apartment was RIGHT IN THE THICK OF IT. Tourists everywhere, sirens, party drunks: SoHo is never quiet. But, the kids didn’t care. We slept well. Big days mean big sleep.

I found a babysitter through a friend so we grown-ups could enjoy the city. No point being in NYC and staying home every night. She babysat for us for the duration of the visit, and I am very grateful to her.

We ate: Out a lot – we were right on the cusp of Little Italy after all. Aside of that, take-away soup, sushi and chili from Gourmet Garage was our go-to. (I live on chicken noodle soup in NYC.)

We kept the kids busy with:

• Numerous city playgrounds: There are a few on Bleeker that are huge, with water parks and fountains and lots of local kids to play with
• Exhibitions, plays, and kid-based art stuff. (We went to Color Factory; it was phenomenal)
• Going to Times Square (ahem, the M&M store) and the Empire State Building
• Trips to The High Line for ice creams and sweltering strolls/tantrums (mine)
• A train trip to Coney Island for the day with some friends (just the boy and the husband; too hot and far for baby)
• Walking around the city finding parks and patting dogs and eating sushi.

We had to: Buy a ton of Lego and puzzles for hot afternoons inside.

Next we headed to Park Slope for 16 days. My knowledge of Brooklyn was limited to Dumbo and Williamsburg (I’m a Carrie, not a Miranda, after all), so we booked this having never been to the area. Next time we’ll spend a bit longer on Google maps, or ask any ex-pats we know over there for insight, as it wasn’t quite what we had envisioned. Alas! We’d heard Park Slope was great for families, and it really is. Lots of playgrounds, the colossal, lush Prospect Park, and tons of family friendly eateries and shops. The best way to sum it up is that it was like Real Life, whereas Manhattan always feels romantic and crazy and like I’m in a movie. (And that’s why I love it.)

We ate: Mostly at home; there were loads of those dazzling, overflowing NYC grocery stores around. There were some great places around for early family dinners, notably Hugo and Sons, and we bought crepes at the delicious Colson patisserie on our daily walk up to Prospect Park. I booked an organic toddler food delivery service, (frozen, delivered in bulk for the week ahead, Nurture Life was the company) so we always had healthy lunch or dinner options.

We kept kids busy with:

• Daily trips to Prospect Park (rivals Central park in size and beauty)
• Numerous local playgrounds
• Brooklyn Zoo
• A ferry over to Governor’s Island to camp for the night under the gaze of the statue of liberty (just my son and husband; baby not a keen camper) Even if you don’t camp, go: it has the longest slide in NY and an awesome park
• Brooklyn Bridge park in Dumbo, (AKA, we went to the Jane Carousel, but this whole area is brand new and great)

We had to: Rack off to the Hamptons for a weekend to stay with friends to escape an epic heat wave. The Hamptons were GREAT. So pretty! Such good food! Many things for the kids to do, and many celebrities to spot! (Important.) 

For the finale, we moved up to Central Park. We’ve never stayed uptown (midtown, more accurately) before, but with kids it made sense. So, for the last 12 days we booked a hotel one block back from the park (1 Hotel Central Park – 10/10 recommend) to go out on a movie-set high.

I want to say: if you have young kids, stay up here. We were in that wonderful park twice a day, for the playgrounds, duck feeding, the zoo or the fairground. It’s magic, and it tires them out, and it’s just so dang beautiful.

We ate:  Mostly in our room. (We ended up paying to upgrade to a room with a dining table and more space after seeing our tiny original room, knowing from experience that the outlay is worth it when you spend so much time at home with your kid and still-crawling baby.)  I still had the toddler food delivery in place, but classic diner breakfasts or picnics in the park with sandwiches were good fun. The grocery stores in the city all do great soup/stews/salads, which I have zero problem with after three hours at a museum.

We kept them busy with:

• Central Park (squirrels! Rocks to climb! The best playground we’ve ever seen!)
• Central Park Zoo
• A Yankees game
• MoMa (it has a lovely outdoor area and interactive kids room)
• The Intrepid air sea and space museum (you can see a real space shuttle)
• The American Museum of Natural History
• The subway anywhere. Kids. Love. Trains.

Before booking, I made sure each place we stayed had:

• Some space to play indoors – Hot NYC summer days are super exhausting for small people. The kids could generally tolerate one big session outside a day, then they would nap, and hang inside on hot afternoons till dinner, which we would often go out for, because they were buzzing to get out, and so were we, and we’re more relaxed on holidays so we can forgive the later bed time and amount of ice cream being consumed.
• Dark bedrooms – I always double confirm there are blackout blinds in the kids’ room. (We always travel with gaffa tape to tape down any light leaks too.)
• White noise – much needed in NYC with all the sirens etc.
• Proximity to playgrounds or parks – no more than a block or two. They act as your backyard.
• A lemonade fountain and indoor slippery slide – obviously.

It was a big, beautiful, blur of a trip. We were in a constant loop of excitement, FOMO and exhaustion in NYC; it’s a city that gives as much as it takes, and we are more than happy with that transaction. (We are also more than happy with the amount of Aussie cafes popping up over there, because we are Melbournians and therefore very ANNOYING AND ARROGANT ABOUT OUR COFFEE.)

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