Pros & Cons of Raising a Child in USA – Texas

“Where do you want to stay – Texas or Pune?” Whenever I ask this question to my son, his answer is always Texas. And we haven’t even completed 1 year in Texas yet!

While we are almost settled in our new locale, we often tend to compare between living in India & Texas. There are a lot of factors that do really matter when you have a child. So here are a few pros & cons of raising a child in USA Texas – as per our experience.

Pros

1. It is Big

Everything is big in Texas. Texas is the second largest state in USA.  If Texas were its own country, it would be the 40th largest country in the world. It is bigger than any country in Europe. Along with its size, employment opportunities are huge too.

Properly maintained, smooth Texan highways give us access to explore its vastness. And kids love to travel & explore. There are vast number of things that you can do in Texas with your kids.

2. Wonderful Weather

The weather in Texas is most suitable for kids. Temperatures may reach below freezing marks in winter. But you can still make a visit to the park in the afternoons. You are never stuck indoors in winters unless it’s snowing – which happens very rarely.

Summers are very harsh. Temperature can go as high as 42 °C. But for kids who are raised in India and have sustained humidity of Goa, this temperature is a big YES. With proper precautions kids can enjoy themselves a lot in summer as well. Summer Safety Tips for Kids – Happy Mom Happy Family   I usually take my son out in early mornings and late evenings so that he sustains Texan summer & still doesn’t miss any fun.

Fall & Spring are wonderful. And you would totally embrace these seasons.

3. Plenty of Public Parks

• Public Parks

This was a big positive for us. There are so many parks to choose from.

Dallas city alone boasts around 397 parks totaling over 20,118 acres of developed and undeveloped parkland including: 18,994 park land acres. These are maintained by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

You can always visit a new park every weekend. My son loves these weekend park visits. These are well maintained, clean parks. And all of them have children’s play areas with slides and swings. Almost all of them have tennis courts, volleyball, and basketball courts.

• Splash Pads

In many public parks, you would find splash pads where kids can enjoy playing in water. These are the best to escape summer heat.

• Walking & Jogging Trails

Everyone here loves jogging. There are so many jogging trails around that you would just love it.  Whenever we go cycling or walking – we call it as ‘nature walk’ because of the beautiful, serene views around trails.

4. Library

USA has a massive network of public libraries.  They have separate sections for kids, teens & adults along with provision to read/work in quite spaces and cabins.

Kids section has computers for children’s use. These computers are loaded with kid friendly learning programs. Also, there are huge collections of books.

These things might be common in developed countries, but for someone like me from India, this is a big pro.

US has a culture of oral storytelling in library for kids. There are different sessions for all age groups. We visit these sessions weekly without fail.

5. Low Cost of Living

Compared to other US states, cost of living is lower in Texas. That’s saves us with little more money to spend on kids 😊

Also, you don’t have to pay state income tax in Texas.

Here are some cons….

1. Public Transport

Texans are more dependent on their cars for any length of travel. It has poorer public transport when compared to other US states or other developed countries.

When we came to Texas, we had to buy a car within 2 months of arrival. We couldn’t travel with our baby in Uber without a car seat. And buying a car seat wasn’t reasonable without buying a car because we couldn’t carry it everywhere.

2. Expensive Healthcare

Texas ranks fairly low when it comes to healthcare https://www.uhc.com/broker-consultant/local-markets/texas/texas-health-rankings

While its big cities have a significant number of healthcare facilities, rural communities face challenges with affordable healthcare access.

And when you compare its healthcare to your homeland ,you feel the significant gap.

Even though India is developing nation, and number of doctors, hospitals per person are less in India. I feel medical assistance is easily accessible in India. And it’s cheap compared to the US. When my son was down with cold, I couldn’t get doctor’s appointment in Texas, things got better only when our Indian doctor assisted us over WhatsApp with right dosage of medicine. Of course, ER was an option, but it would have cost us a bunch for a simple illness like common cold.

There are certain laws in Texas which even ban abortion completely. So, you must travel to another state if you have to get an abortion, even if it is doctor recommended.

Also, the health insurance is lot costlier here.

3. Crime Rate

Texas’s crime rates are higher than national averages. It may also depend on which part of Texas you want to live in. You may not bother about this factor on day today bases. But once in a while you will hear about the news of mass shooting in nearby mall where you were planning to visit over weekend. Or a gun violence in the close by Walmart. When you hear about such instances it leads you to question your and your child’s safety.

4. Apartment Living

Someone who migrates to the US or Texas for a job would prefer an apartment instead of a house for financial/security reasons. But living in these apartments with kids is a big challenge.  Apartments here are made of wood. If you live upstairs with kids, you will get complaints from downstairs neighbors for sure.  No matter how much precaution you take, kids will run, jump or would through tantrums. They are kids and you cannot expect them to behave gently throughout the day. Things become worse in the winter months when you can only take them out in the afternoons and rest of the day they are mostly home.

I would suggest renting a ground floor apartment, though staying downstairs has its own cons. But at least kids can play in their own house without restrictions.

5. Expensive Daycare & Preschools

Day care here is very expensive. It’s simply not possible to put your child in daycare if yours is a single income household. Depending on your budget and number of kids you may have to explore other options like half day, or day care offering 3 days a week. Though it is expensive, sometimes it becomes necessary in some situations like when you have a newborn & an older kid. Or if a kid is no longer interested in socializing due to lack of family/friends in this new country.

I have listed points as per my experience here, as someone who has shifted from India to Dallas with husband for better job opportunities. For someone already staying in the US, these points might not matter much. But for people who are shifting from other countries, this article would be very helpful.