Misconceptions People Have

[Fairyjen1]

That if you don't want to have kids that you must hate them. I love kids!! I just want them to go to their own house after I finish playing with them

Then you get those that think if you like kids, but don't want your own, you must be a creepy child molester (I've only run into a few of those, and only on message boards, no one in real life has said it to my face anyway)

 

[gwynne]

That if you don't want to have kids that you must hate them. I love kids!! I just want them to go to their own house after I finish playing with them

I had a couple of aunts that didn't have kids. There were wonderful to me, and I still remember the great times we had together. You don't have to be a parent to make a difference.

 

[Colleen27]

I agree with what someone said upthread about small towns... They might be friendly in the "say hi and wave" sense but developing friendships and getting involved in organizations is much harder than in suburbia where people come and go, because here you run into "cliques" that formed 20-30 years ago when the now-adults who are running things were all in kindergarten together. If you didn't grow up here, you're always going to be an outsider in certain circles - the public elem PTA is terrible for this!

On a more personal level, my youngest is 7 & 10 years younger than her siblings. We get a lot of assumptions about that one - that she was an "oops" or, because she bears absolutely no resemblance to her sister, that they have different fathers. No, we just didn't have the easiest time trying for a third child but thanks for asking... LOL

 

[DVC-Don]

Long, long time ago I lived in Central New York. It was kind of flat there and lots of corn fields. While living there I had to spend time in the Bloomington, Illinois area for training (staying in a hotel in surrounded by corn fields) and when I told people where I was from I got a lot of "So what's it like in NYC and how many times have you been mugged?" questions. I just said, nope never been mugged and it looked like living in a corn field, like here.

 

[usd2bmd]

I live just outside Buffalo.... So for us it is always about the snow. People also tend to assume when you say you live in New York that we're near the NYC.

 

[klmall]

I always feel like people in the rest of the country think "Washington, DC" is all museums and politic. No, actually, for many of us, it's home and we are part of the broken down system. I just cringe when I see headlines or TV memes that shout "Let's fix Washington" or "Dysfunction Washington." No, only a small (very powerful) group of people fit that bill, not the rest of us!

Some more about Washington, DC. Sometimes when we travel and say that we live near Washington, DC people ask us how we handle all that crime and violence DC is sometimes noted for.

First of all, the Washington, DC area is huge. It includes large parts of two distinct states plus DC. Now most of my friends agree that DC is very poorly run as cities go especially the schools and local government (you should read the local paper about the parking ticket/meter fiascos and inability of the DC government to even document who actually worked in the schools!) but I live less than 30 minutes from DC and our suburbs here in Maryland are like the suburbs anywhere....Chicago or Houston or Seattle. We have schools with nation-wide acclaim and of course, taxes that go with that reputation. But our crime is way below DC's rate and we do not avoid sightseeing or theaters etc. in DC. We do have horrendous traffic problems and commuting nightmares but we also have 3 international airports, great health care options and scenic mountains and beaches within 2 - 3 hours along with a world-class bay for sailing and seafood.

I think all cities suffer from misconceptions. Like I always told parents asking which school in our system to look for a house near: "There is both good and bad about every single school in our system; it depends upon what you want your child to experience!" The same is true for every part of this country!

Oh, I also suffered from the "You should play basketball!" as well as "Why didn't you become a model?" just because I was 5' 9" back when tall women were less common and suffered from a lack of Tall sized pants until I was nearly 30 years old.