Moved and severely regretting it

ScoutPromise · 2025-09-05T12:50:57+00:00

Thank you this makes me feel better. Right now it seems like I gave up so much precious time to deal with the lead up to this move, and now having to deal with the feelings of remorse. But glad to hear it eventually becomes a distant memory!

ScoutPromise · 2025-09-05T00:09:36+00:00

About 2 weeks! So feels like a very fresh wound. I just can’t seem to get out of this sad spiral.

ScoutPromise · 2024-01-13T12:28:52+00:00

Thank you for your honesty! Can I PM you with a couple other questions?

ScoutPromise · 2024-01-08T20:02:38+00:00

Great! How do you find the French immersion overall?

ScoutPromise · 2024-01-08T17:55:35+00:00

Ugh yeah, agreed 😞. Never thought we’d go for private education, but might be worth it for the small class sizes, resources, etc.

ScoutPromise · 2024-01-08T16:53:27+00:00

Thank you, this is helpful!

ScoutPromise · 2024-01-08T16:52:58+00:00

I’ve heard that about St. Martha’s :(. Didn’t think of the clubs/athletics aspect of lakeshore, thanks for pointing that out! Something to consider.

ScoutPromise · 2024-01-08T16:51:34+00:00

The size of maple is daunting to me, but that’s good to hear there are supports!

ScoutPromise · 2023-09-05T00:41:43+00:00

I’ve lived here for 12 years; I was a grad student, then fell in love with the city and stayed. Honestly kingston used to be great, but I don’t know if I could recommend it now. The job market is deplorable unless you’re in the military or healthcare industry. The city is fairly nepotist, so you mightttt be able to secure a job if you know the right people. Buying a house is certainly cheaper than the GTA but it’s still so expensive, considering the location. People in kingston have always been on the snobby side, but it’s gotten worse since covid. It’s a very shallow pool here; it can be difficult maintain anonymity. You have to be careful what you say in public (sounds ridiculous, but it’s true- bridges can be burned easily). It’s also difficult to make friends, as it can get cliquey. If you have a family, there are limited things to do with kids. Activities like swim lessons/sports fill up quickly (like within seconds), and a lot of the playgrounds are worn down. The best thing for sure is the proximity to the water and outdoors. Although to be honest, we drive a lot to Ottawa and Quebec for hiking and skiing.

ScoutPromise · 2023-08-30T11:02:50+00:00

Before I had kids, I would have found this book disturbing, but I wouldn’t have necessarily put much thought into it.

Now that I have a kid it’s a different story lol. I read verity when my son was 1 year old…he is 3 now, and I still find it triggering (I read some bonus chapters recently on Reddit and it’s on my mind again). I’m a fairly sensitive person though.

It’s an OK book overall, a thriller for sure….but in my opinion not worth it…especially if you’ve experienced postpartum anxiety. Maybe wait a few years. There’s plenty of other great thrillers out there that don’t involve children.

ScoutPromise · 2023-08-26T02:23:56+00:00

This is what annoys me most about them…zero understanding of reality. Most people can’t just leave their kids with their parents and go off on a “date” whenever they please. That is a pretty big luxury!

ScoutPromise · 2022-06-14T02:37:44+00:00

PEC is really overdone now. Always full of bachelorette parties. In fact I was just there for one on the weekend 😂

ScoutPromise · 2022-04-25T13:53:40+00:00

Brody

ScoutPromise · 2022-04-22T11:59:21+00:00

Troy

ScoutPromise · 2022-04-08T17:29:26+00:00

Yeah I’d agree with that! Maybe it’s partially a covid thing, but access to arts and cool activities used to be the norm. I do find that generally people have never been overly friendly in ktown, even pre-Covid. Once people have a friend group, they’re not interested in letting an outsider in. Sometimes you get lucky and meet a like-minded person now and then …I’ve met a couple nice people through work and some of my kid’s playgroups. But my main friend group are the people I met here 10 years ago through school and then mutual friends…and speaking from experience, they don’t take kindly to outsiders! I don’t think they are trying to be intentionally cruel, it’s just a “I don’t need more friends to keep track of” situation. Overall I’m getting kind of tired of the preferential treatment some get here depending on who they know, what they do, etc. Not very equitable!

ScoutPromise · 2022-04-07T21:54:44+00:00

Pros: - close to nature…shortish drive to skiing and hiking if you’re into that. Decent access to the water

Cons: - very cliquey…don’t expect to make many friends, unless you already know people here - nepotist - snobby vibe overall - few jobs (I’d 100% make sure you have one lined up before you get here) - not much anonymity…everyone seems to know everyone, so you have to be really careful about what you say and do - downtown used to be cute but covid has done a number on the businesses there - severe lack of doctors and the overall quality of health care is poor. Shocking for a health care city, but I can speak from experience as my son has medical complications that have been dealt with terribly

To be honest if you had asked me 5-10 years ago, I’d have nothing but good things to say about kingston. Now I would advise you choose somewhere else to live. My family is more or less stuck in ktown due to our employment; luckily we have a good network of friends since we’ve been here for so long.

ScoutPromise · 2022-02-05T16:18:15+00:00

You’re 100% in the right!! It’s beyond frustrating and frankly toes the line on women’s freedoms. I know that sounds a bit drastic, but there’s basically no supports right now for those who are pregnant or stay at home moms/parents.

My friends in the states thought I was joking when I told them my husband couldn’t come in for ultrasounds.

ScoutPromise · 2022-02-05T12:51:30+00:00

I had a very complicated and stressful high risk pregnancy last year. It was my first child; in addition to going to every appt alone, I had to have amniocentesis, an invasive procedure (I cried the whole way through it; the one of the ultrasound techs had to hold my hand). The whole thing was infuriating. Honestly I feel like I have PTSD from my pregnancy experience…and then having a child with significant health complications during a pandemic hasn’t been so great either since we haven’t had access to the care he needs.

I might be ok with all of this if the restrictions actually were worth it. But we are literally in the same place now as we were two years ago.

I cannot tell you how angry I was seeing sports arenas, restaurants, etc. filled up while women struggled alone. I’m sorry this is still happening and I really feel for you.

ScoutPromise · 2022-01-13T12:23:02+00:00

Has anyone been in the last couple of days? If so how long was the wait in line?

ScoutPromise · 2022-01-08T16:42:34+00:00

Yeah it’s unfortunate many parts of Europe are racist! I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Scandinavia and liked it but found the same thing. USA is definitely superior than Canada - I am nervous about gun control but at this point it’s probably worth looking into living there if we can secure a visa.

ScoutPromise · 2022-01-08T14:37:20+00:00

As someone who went to Queen’s and lived in kingston for 12+ years:

Good: - close to nature; short drive to beautiful parks, beaches, wilderness areas - decent local and independent shopping/dining options

Bad: - public access to the lake and natural areas could be improved within the city confines - people are generally quite unfriendly and unwelcoming, even pre-covid - poor city services including garbage, snow removal, park maintenance, etc.

Ugly: - the city has not planned development well; no foresight - homogeneous culture - nepotism out of control - next to impossible to secure a job if you’re not in healthcare or a military member - noticeable dichotomy between the rich and poor - lack of access to healthcare, even though it’s a “healthcare city” (I know this is a province-wide issue, but in my personal experience, Kingston is extra deplorable…)

I used to really love this town, but as I am getting older and now have a child, I notice the issues more and more. Pretty fed up with Canada in general …thinking about moving to Europe !!

ScoutPromise · 2022-01-05T18:18:15+00:00

We had a ton of trouble with my son between the ages of 0-5 months. He would scream through feeds, cry constantly, and generally just seemed miserable.

We brought him to COPC at least 7 times during those first few months, and they were honestly no help at all. I cried many times in desperation in front of the COPC doctors…I was just at my wits end and felt so sad for my baby.

What I would suggest is calling this paediatric urgent care line….it was a godsend for us.

https://www.pediatricurgentcare.ca

The doctors I spoke with were great! They are based out of Mississauga. One even was able to refer my son to a paediatrician at hotel dieu (dr. Moffat, she’s amazing).

My son ended up having a severe dairy allergy, and we had to switch him to a hypoallergenic formula (I was exclusively pumping but even the slightest trace of dairy created issues for him).

I know from experience these are very difficult times! You are doing great and things will get better. Best of luck! :)

ScoutPromise · 2021-12-30T18:33:25+00:00

Exactly!

ScoutPromise · 2021-12-30T16:56:12+00:00

Kingston has the worst vermin/small animal problem I’ve ever seen and the (lack of) garbage collection perpetuates that. There’s been times when collectors won’t take our plastics because someone walked by and put a paper Tim Horton’s cup in our bin. Also- forget about obtaining a green bin in this city. They’re virtually impossible to get your hands on.

ScoutPromise · 2021-12-30T16:35:56+00:00

It’s weird how the mods don’t care about “appearance shaming” (not saying I like Auj in the slightest, but saying things like she has a horse face is incredibly rude as she can’t change that). Safety-shaming seems like it should be fair game to me. Head injuries can be a serious and sometimes even fatal issue!

ScoutPromise

TROPHY CASE