[quote=“jdsmith”]My kid is healthy, happy and excelling as a human
bean
IMHO.
.[/quote]
When you lost him, he came back as a bean?!?!?! See that’s what Taiwan does to kids. 
Half of my sisters had to up sticks and move away from very nice areas in the UK to find decent schooling for their kids away from the ferals. That has nothing to do with Taiwan in particular.
I understand that if you are a parent from a Western country, then raising a child in Taiwan means he or she is being exposed to another culture: “Taiwanese culture.” However, a Western country can often be home to a whole range of cultures that a kid can be exposed to. For example, a kid goes to elementary school in Taiwan, and the family names of his or her classmates are Chen, Lin, Li, Wu, Wang, Huang, Tsai, Liu, etc. If the kid goes to elementary school in Toronto, Fairfax Virginia, or Skokie Illinois, the last names might very well be Williams, Rodriguez, Wahid, Kumar, Nakamura, Kim, Nguyen, Soprano (!), Koslowski, Ivanitskaya, …and Chen. Sure, kids in a North American school might share their families’ cultural heritage in a watered-down way (or perhaps not at all) but even from the standpoint seeing people of different races, I tend to think such a “multi-cultural” school environment would be better…(if the school were well-funded, etc.) I suppose that’s the ideal I have in my mind for our kid–that United Nations of cultural backgrounds. Of course, as I alluded to above, the school could have all sorts of other problems…
I lived in Taipei city for eight years before getting married and having children, and it is really funny how the things I loved about Taiwan are the things that frustrate me now I have two little kids to think about. Some examples:
The chaos - loved it for years, now I have to take two kids through it it makes me a bit tired.
The noise and action - great when your single, not great when kids are napping.
No garden to worry about - now all I desire is a yard.
Apartment easy to maintain - not designed with kids’ safety in mind at all (but you can change that if the place is your own)
And there are things I never even thought about that I like:
The helpfulness of people - even though sometimes a bit too helpful, there is always someone willing to help me get in a taxi, get my stroller up the stairs, catch my one year old when she is going the opposite way to the three year old…
Facilities - I grew up in a small town and my kids have more information and opportunity within one block of their place than I had in my whole region. Three public library branches, four or five little parks, four swimming pools, schools for anything you want to learn…
International aspect - again, compared to my smalltown life, my kids have met people of more nationalities and traveled to more countries than I had upon graduating from high school.
When I take my kids back to my hometown I am really happy there, not for the hometown really though. For my parents’ yard and the sidewalks. And we just came back from a weekend at some log cabins north of Taidong and it was just great to have that yard space for the kids. And a beach. In fact everytime I have a yard I am very happy about having kids in Taiwan. When I walk out on my own, I enjoy Taipei city a lot. And when I am anywhere with a space for kids I am very happy about being here.
Not sure that helps you at all, it now seems a bit random!
I’ve been thinking about this question as well and already made my mind up before any kids are born. I would want to move back to where I’ve come from to raise my kids for the reasons you’ve all stated.
To all those, who think growing up in Taiwan is more international, I must say, that I myself grew up in a small country, a very small town, to European parents. I am a country bumpkin, not bi-lingual and not mixed raced. I am a boring European. Nevertheless we’ve always traveled a lot and had a lot of international visitors to our house. I could hold up a conversation in English by the age of 10 and learned another 6 languages in school and University. OK, I am not fluent anymore, but I had a great childhood (no cramschools!) in the countryside and a good education. The only thing I am worried about is, that my SO having grown up in Taipei will be utterly bored in the countryside.
To the OP, and anyone else, I seriously suggest you look at Muzha for a place to raise kids if you want lots of open spaces. Check out the area south of Muxin Rd Sec 2 & 3 along the dikes by the Jingmei River. There’s lots of open parkland for kids to ride bikes, fly kites, play in sand, slide, play basketball, baseball, badminton, whatever. The kids just have to walk across the street and there’s no more traffic concern. Not that there is much traffic anyway.
The local families have all taken to the area since it opened 2 years ago and so there’s lots of opportunity for your kid to play with others.
The university is also across the way and it is traffic controlled and has a jogging track, climbing wall, tennis courts, and lovely hiking trails. Take your kids for a walk around campus at night and they can hear owls and crickets and squirrels chattering in the trees. Or take them up to Maokong, just a few minutes drive and let them chase butterflies, listen to high pitched cicadas, and play in clean streams with real fish in them.
This is a wide open area with plenty of green space and mountain views. It’s probably the only area in Taipei you can go for a walk for hours, even late at night, and not be bothered by any traffic. Imagine that. Walking across the street and then going for a two hour walk on treed lined lanes and not having to dodge a single car or scooter. I feel like I am living in the countryside here more than the city, and yet the city is there, just around the corner if you need it.
Mucha Man,
I also live in Mucha. From my experience, if you are in Mucha you need to be near the MRT station and/or near very open space like the park and swimming pool at Wanfang Community or the riverside like you said. We live in neither of those areas and it is not really a good place with little ones (maybe better than Shingjuang though). You need to take a bus to get to the mrt, not easy with two kids in tow. There is no big supermarket close by (yes there is Carrefour in Shindian), and those little ones are all in the basement so you have to carry your kids and groceries up and down. There are not so many sidewalks on this side of Mucha and it can be quite dangerous walking around with little active ones.
The riverside park is nice. Right now my kids are too little to enjoy it as there are no trees and they are in bed before it is cool enough to walk there.
There are good schools here and good libraries. But if I want to do something on my own in my limited time off childcare, I don’t have time to go to the city and back. It’s very surburban and not many young people about, lots of retired people around during the day. And the parks are for some reason rather sleazy, particularly those around Ankang community.
Maybe the reason you like it is the reason I don’t love it - it’s not really the city and it’s not really the country.
I know, that’s why I specified Muxin Road Sec 2 & 3 by the river. Wanfang community is also good. Close to the MRT and sidewalks for walking. Lots of shaded little parks too.
I guess I am also assuming people will have a car.
And a car park! Since I got a car it’s a bit better but there are always fights over parking spaces in our area, I have even had a threatening note left on my car outside our apartment, parking in a space someone figured they owned. They don’t.
I had that before but now I rent a space in a car park 1 minute walk from my apartment. And many of the newer apartments in this area have underground lots. I also have a pool and a library about 200m away. And it never rains.
But seriosuly I am recommending this area as I have lived in Taiwan a long time, know the hassles, and know that most of them don’t exist here in this little corner, or are very manageable.
I’m also in a very nice area for kids. I live in a gated community in DongHu.
The lane in front of my place is off limits for cars so all the neighbourhood kids are riding their bikes around or playing sports. I have a small front yard and little bigger backyard. In behind me there is nothing but mountains so all night long we here cicadas and frogs.My kids can run down the lane to their friends house then off to the park!
Being in DongHu/NeiHu area may be a bit of a pain if you don’t drive though as the MRT is not yet open here. If you have a car though it’s a quick drive to the highway then it takes about 20 mins to get just about anywhere in the city.
There are some things I miss about raising kids back home but overall our quality of life here is great. Good friends, nice home and even fresh air! It is possible you’ve just got to look around a bit.
To be quite honest I think it is more or less the same these days for the kids. If you live in the USA near a Chinese community, you get the Chinese language, you get the cram schools, you get the crowded urban living.
If you live in Taiwan urban centers, you get the Chinese language, you get the cram schools, you get the crowded urban living.
I think it is more important to think about what you and your SO want, and where you will be most comfortable raising your kids.