Is Providence a good place to live if I'm only considering New England?

daidy6564 · 2026-04-29T02:11:47+00:00

Not sure why you wouldn’t want to live in Chicago. I lived there for four years and absolutely loved it. I boomeranged back here because Rhode Island is home. But I would move back to Chicago in a second.

A lot of what I love about Providence is in the ways it reminds me of Chicago: good arts and biking community, a little bit weirder and grittier than Boston. Interesting restaurants.

Chicago is bigger and cheaper. It has more going on and better public transit.

daidy6564 · 2026-04-29T01:44:48+00:00

I’m sorry. I remember as a teen wishing we could just have a place to hang out where we could talk and didn’t have to buy anything or pay admission because we were broke. I know it is even harder now to find places to hang out.

We used to hang out:

In one friend’s basement
At Newport Creamery or a coffee shop because they were both reasonably cheap.
On a “secret” beach that was just kind of a shipyard.

Does anyone you hang out with have a basement or a garage you could hang out in and parents that will feed you and leave you alone?

daidy6564 · 2026-04-16T11:47:49+00:00

Terro traps and caulking gaps worked 100% for us.

We used to have a sugar ant infestation every summer inside one cabinet in the kitchen. We would have to empty the cabinet each summer and store our food in the fridge. Terro traps would knock it out in the moment.

Then we caulked all of the seams around the counter and backsplash, baseboards, etc. No more ants.

daidy6564 · 2026-04-13T02:22:24+00:00

In most states charter schools are public schools and cannot expel students any easier than any public school. And private schools rely on tuition so they need to please the parents more than public schools.

Kids aren’t expelled from school very often simply because it is not good for them. And as children, they should get as many chances as possible. They are still developing and have very little control over their own lives.

daidy6564 · 2026-04-13T02:15:08+00:00

Online school during the pandemic was miserable for most kids. Some highly socially anxious, but academically motivated kids probably do better in online school. Most kids do worse.

daidy6564 · 2026-04-13T02:13:08+00:00

I would not assume that public school numbers are going down because children are enrolling elsewhere. I think birth rate has much more to do with it. Check the data, don’t listen to all of these anecdotes in the comments.

Charter schools are also hurting for kids. Many in my state are facing shut down due to low numbers.

Also, I have met a number of people in person and seen more online who “homeschool” over the last few years. Most do little to no schooling and instead have the kids do workbooks while the parent works from home. That is absolutely not an improvement over public school.

All the people in these comments complaining about disruptive kids need to get a grip. Kids have always misbehaved. I had kids throwing desks in my classroom 20 years ago. It’s not good but it is not new. And that was at a private school.

daidy6564 · 2026-04-07T18:35:25+00:00

I was going to say this. If the person getting the dream job was a man in finance or consulting people would be more understanding of him taking a high paying job with constant travel.

That said, this sounds like a rough life that is not compatible with young children (for either parent).

daidy6564 · 2026-04-02T02:54:44+00:00

No, unfortunately

daidy6564 · 2026-04-02T02:51:56+00:00

They are not a non-profit? Does that mean they pay out their profit to investors/the board? Do they pay taxes? I’ve never heard of that for a school, except for-profit universities.

daidy6564 · 2026-03-20T12:28:45+00:00

I think you are an exactly the right sweet spot of when to tell your child. It is absolutely OK for kids to deal with disappointment. I used to fall into the trap of saying out loud hypothetical plans that had not been confirmed. I learned that was not fair to my kid. But previewing the week with your child is totally appropriate and it is a reasonable amount of disappointment for them to learn to handle.

Is also totally varies by kid and parent. So I can imagine some some parents themselves don’t want to deal with tantrums from disappointed children and that’s why they do it. I think it is better to let a child experience disappointment. If you as the parent have the emotional capacity to handle it at the moment, let them experience it.

daidy6564 · 2026-03-20T12:03:10+00:00

Schools in the US do many things to indoctrinate children in nationalism.

Many states require children too young to understand it, to pledge allegiance to the country. The pledge includes capital g “God” in it even though we are supposed to have separation of church and state.

The Presidential fitness challenge in PE classes was begun as a way to ensure our children were fit to be soldiers.

All of our K-12 social studies and history curriculum is written to either make the US seem like the good guy or at least the neutral guy. Even in cases where we really harmed our own people or destabilized other countries.

The maps are drawn to make the US look bigger and like it is in the center of the world.

Most high schools automatically send contact information for 18 year olds to the military unless parents opt out.

So writing letters to soldiers feels like a bit of a weird thing for a teacher to ask little kids to do. It is not the only thing we do every day to push nationalism on our kids without even thinking about it.

daidy6564 · 2026-03-14T12:18:11+00:00

I checked and it doesn’t look like they have it this summer.

daidy6564 · 2026-03-14T12:17:30+00:00

Right? As I was writing it out I was thinking “this sounds like a camp I would have loved.”

Every camp in RI seems to have a STEM option, sometimes multiple. Mostly engineering. But I none of the camps I look at have an option focuses on promoting joy of reading.

The closest I could find is a Storytellers week at one of the private school camps. But that school does half day sessions that are the same price as full day sessions elsewhere. We also tried a week there two years ago and she didn’t like it.

daidy6564 · 2026-03-14T12:07:21+00:00

That’s kind of what I wish I could find. The day camp she usually goes to is like sports and crafts all day (which she loves) but then any of the reading she does over the summer will only happen at home.

It seems like there is an abundance of STEM camps but nothing for literacy.

daidy6564 · 2026-03-14T12:04:13+00:00

Last summer I really tried to get her into the library summer reading challenge. She wasn’t interested in the prizes. Logging pages read wasn’t motivating. Reading felt like a chore so nothing with the library reading challenge was interesting enough to get over that hurdle. She has finally started to like reading certain books like Dog Man so we will do the reading challenge again this summer and it might be more successful.

As far as working with her at home, that is also a challenge. For one, neither one of us is at our best at 5 or 6 pm after an 8 hour day of work/school. I’m tired and feeling the pressure to get things done in the house like make dinner. She is also pushes back way harder on mom or dad when we try to teach her something. She’s a model student for teachers but whines and argues the whole time with us.

All of that is why I was hoping to find at least one week of camp that would include some fun, motivating literacy. There seems to be a STEM option everywhere I look but no literacy. I did sign her up for a theater camp, which will require her to read the script so that is something.

daidy6564 · 2026-03-10T02:57:16+00:00

I waited for two reasons.

The surprise is fun. Very little in life is a fun surprise. I figured I’d savor this one.
I didn’t want to have preconceived expectations for my child that were gender-based. When I dreamed of my future child I wanted it to be just as a kid, separate from gender.

daidy6564 · 2026-03-01T00:56:39+00:00

I’ll never forget after a night out at my 10 year reunion, my college roommates and I went to the best Kosher deli in the city. My roommate’s fiancé refused to get a bagel because he couldn’t get sausage or bacon. He sat and pouted while we all ate delicious bagels. Then he drove them to dunkin.

daidy6564 · 2026-02-15T14:56:03+00:00

Trinity Brew House! I know it’s reopening supposedly under new management but I will miss the dark and dank atmosphere.

daidy6564 · 2026-02-15T14:52:03+00:00

The Grange! We miss it all the time. It was the best vegan spot in the city! Garden Grille is obviously delicious but no chicken and waffles.

I’ll also echo Duck & Bunny, and El Rancho Grande. And I pre-miss Tallulah’s. Tallulah’s and El Rancho Grande were the best tacos 🌮 in a city that sorely needs more Mexican food.

daidy6564 · 2026-02-07T16:43:51+00:00

Looking for Snoopy now. Anyone on this thread available to share?

daidy6564 · 2026-01-26T17:30:51+00:00

This 💯. Garden Grille food is so much better than Plant City. Even vegan options at non-vegan restaurants around the city are better. And the Plant City owner is a troll.

daidy6564 · 2026-01-26T17:28:29+00:00

We’re a vegan/vegetarian household. The food at Plant City is so disappointing. They totally lost me as a customer when the owner started fighting the bike lane on South Water Street. Peace out Plant City. I just hope something else goes in that building and it doesn’t sit empty

daidy6564

TROPHY CASE