Living with a small child in Seoul: 5 things that surprised us
A few years ago when my son was two years old, we had the incredible opportunity to live and work in Seoul. We discovered many wonderful things about raising a child in Seoul, including the very safe environment, access to a world-class education, high-quality and affordable child care, and the abundance of kid-friendly cultural and historical attractions and activities. kids. Here are some other surprising observations we made during our stay.
1. A culture crazy about babies and children. Maybe it’s related to the drop in the country’s fertility rate, one of the lowest in the world, or maybe it’s just the culture, but everywhere we went, people (particularly the ajummas, women middle-aged Korean girls) would flatter our son, giving him any gift. They were able to find everything from small sweets and toys to even a gigantic eggplant. Taxi drivers searched his car to find something to give him, like a banana taken from his packed lunch. A merchant cried every time we visited him. For our son, it felt like having a million grandmothers – the world felt friendly and loving.
2. Adventurous and kid-friendly food. Korean food may be known for its spicy or unusual dishes (to the Western eye), but the cuisine also abounds in palate-widening foods disguised as sweets (at least in our two-year-old’s eyes). We enjoyed pink and white fish cakes; dry, slightly sweet and chewy squid that crumble attractively in your hands; colored vegetables wrapped with rice in dried and salty seaweed; rice cakes covered in shredded mung beans or stuffed with red bean paste (not a very sweet delicacy that I grew up with and my son loves, but my all-western husband thinks it’s an insult to the word “dessert”) . With more restaurants per capita (or so the locals have told me) than any city in the world, not to mention the thousands of food carts selling street food, you are bombarded wherever you go with Korean food, surprisingly irresistible to me. Young son!
3. Accessibility of outdoor activities. Seoul is known for its incredible growth and development over the past decades, which has transformed it into a vibrant and bustling city that never sleeps. With 11 million people in Seoul proper, it has almost twice the population density of New York City. However, there are extraordinary areas of undeveloped wilderness in the city, including at least eight mountains that offer easy access to excursions and day hikes for children. We often spend the day in Bukhansan, located on the northern outskirts of the city, which is a national park with impressive granite peaks, dozens of hiking trails at its three main peaks, and spectacular views of Seoul from the top. Prepare to feel ill-equipped as ajummas and ajusshis (middle-aged women and men) rush past you in the latest high-tech clothing, carbon fiber trekking poles, and state-of-the-art GPS gear (no matter how smooth the pending), but they will always stop ooh and aah for their little ones and offer nuts, carrots, or other snacks.
4. Easy and cheap transportation. As a New Yorker, I am a taxi / Uber addict, and I always feel a bit guilty (though not enough to curb my addiction) for spending too much money in a cab instead of taking the bus or subway. Guilt is not needed in Seoul! While Seoul has a super efficient public transportation system, although it is often crowded, taxis are so plentiful and inexpensive that it is easy to travel with your little one and all the gear and shopping bags you are likely to carry with you. And it is always a good opportunity to practice Korean.
5. K-fashion for the little ones. In recent years, Seoul has become a cultural powerhouse whose influence now extends beyond K-pop, K-drama, and K-beauty, to fashion. We found that the focus on fashion extends even to those who are too small to dress. We saw children wearing miniature versions of their parents’ couture styles, and even attending shows during Seoul Fashion Week! High-end aside, nowhere else is it so easy or inexpensive to play dress-up with your child – even the cheapest markets are brimming with trendy children’s fashions (or at least their knockoffs). When we first arrived in Korea, we were fresh from Toronto, a wonderful but conservative city in terms of clothing. It wasn’t until we dated Mason one day in ripped jeans (victim of too much sandbox game) and tousled hair (some gel to fix a mom-led haircut mishap) that we started the street style fashion meter with universal cheer!