By Melanie Waldman Lloyd

When we arrived in New York two years ago, we made a decision to ditch the cars and buy an apartment within walking distance of hubbie’s job at Baruch. We literally traced our fingers around a circle indicating no more than 20 minutes walk from Lex and 23^rd. The neighborhoods included Gramercy Park, the Flat Iron, Murray Hill, East Village and Chelsea. Luckily we found a place in Chelsea and now we can’t imagine living anywhere else!

While Chelsea was a rough area in the 70s and 80s, it has become a mecca of family friendly businesses and schools. Here are some of our favorites in case you visit or move here:

Most everyone knows about Madison Square Park and the kid’s programs, Chelsea Waterside Park and Appleseed’s indoor playground and boutique, but local insiders also frequent Seal Park(10th Ave between 21st and 22nd Sts.), Sandbox Park (off 26th St between 8th and 9th in Penn Plaza), and Pinwheel Park (24th between 8th and 9th). These are gorgeous, clean and shady parks with water features and rarely a crowd. (If you are like me, you will want to get the world’s best and strongest latte at Joe's, in the London Terrace building, before heading to any of the parks). On rainy days, we sometimes head to Chelsea Market and once our kiddo is older we plan to hit RMA for the children’s art classes. Also great for rainy days, is our local library, the Muhlenberg branch, which has a dedicated children’s floor, story program and children’s reading area.

While PS 33 is still struggling, our other neighborhood school, PS 11, seems to be on its way to being a highly sought after public school. Amongst its other features, there is a preschool, playground, swimming pool and a Gifted and Talented program.

As for private schools, there are many, but some local favorites include Preschool of the Arts, City and Country, Corlears, Kid’s Korner and Chelsea Day School. Lesser known (and less expensive) are the Secret Garden Preschool at the General Theological Seminary, the Montessori preschool at Nazarath Church and the Chelsea Piers Preschool.

As for shopping, we have multiple big box stores as including Whole Foods and Buy Buy Baby. Locals know about Cupcake Cafe in the fabulous and friendly Books of Wonder children’s bookshop.

Finally, our family’s favorite restaurants for a child friendly atmosphere are The Dish, R.U.B., and East of Eighth but why take the kids? Mommy and Daddy deserve a break too!

Melanie Waldman Lloyd and her husband Jim adopted their son Tyler from birth in January of 2007. She is an "older mom" and also a matchmaker! You can email her at Melanie@MelanieTheMatchmaker.com