raising a kid in downtown toronto
As part of our 9 day vacation in Portugal, we visited the much-talked-about city of Porto. As mentioned at the top of our post on what we did in Lisbon, this post is simply what we did in Porto with an 8 year old child (and a guy who likes to try beers he hasn’t had before). Considering an 8 year old in tow, anything a kid would find super boring is out – as well, any long line ups (as this writer doesn’t do that). The itinerary isn’t kid-focused but is kid-friendly.
Badlands Brewing is, at this moment, the favourite “local” brewery for this writer. After about half a year or so of weekly deliveries from Badlands, a little crew from Toronto decided to finally check out the brewery itself, up in middle-of-nowhere-farm-country (sorry) Caledon.
We hadn’t been on vacation in a looooooong time. So, we took our Downtown Kid with us to Portugal. We visited both Lisbon and Porto over a span of 9 days. Here’s a rundown on what we did in Lisbon. This isn’t written from the perspective of “the most kid-friendly things to do in Lisbon,”or even “the best things to do in Lisbon,” but more so what our time in Lisbon looked like, with an 8 year old on board for the ride. What that means is you won’t see many museums or galleries – as they’re not exactly where a child wants to spend an hour or two typically. Of note, this writer despises line ups, so don’t expect us to partake in much that requires a crazy wait, which makes even more sense when you have your child in tow. This writer also likes to try craft beers in his travels, so you’ll see beer venues in the mix. We visited Lisbon in mid-late May.
I was setting up a new Windows laptop for my downtown kid and noticed that, once it was all set up and ready to go, the only web browser that would start up was Microsoft Edge. I had installed Firefox, which worked at first, but once I had finalized the Microsoft account for my child, both Firefox and Chrome would not start up.
If you’ve got a downtown kid, you likely live in a condo or apartment building. Hopefully your unit includes a balcony so you can have a bit of outdoor space to yourself.
Of course, summers can get pretty hot and you need a bit of shade from the sun. Likewise, getting outside and being able to do a bit of work on your laptop or phone (and actually being able to see your screen) is also nice.
Buying one of those huge and heavy patio umbrellas is overkill – and impractical for your, likely not huge, balcony. What options do you have? When I searched online for balcony umbrellas, there weren’t a lot of practical results. Most were, as mentioned, massive patio umbrellas that aren’t really great for balconies.
I did, however, find one umbrella that isn’t specifically for a balcony – but definitely works for one. It’s a bit more universal, and is marketed as attaching to your camping chair, to your canoe, or even your golf cart. And, yes, it works for all of those things, but – for me – it also meant it would likely work for a balcony.
Sackville Playground is a park in downtown Toronto’s Corktown neighbourhood. It’s located along King Street East, a few minutes walk east of Parliament Street. If using public transit, the King streetcar (both 504A and 504B) will get you right there (there’s a stop right in front of the park). As well, the Parliament street bus (bus 65) plus a short walk east also works.
When you’re a condo kid in downtown Toronto, Halloween can be a little different from the norm. Some condos with a decent amount of kids let them trick or treat in the building, but many condo buildings don’t have many kids and thus no such plans exist. There are some downtown neighbourhoods with houses to knock on, but if deep in the core those are sometimes hard to come by.
One Halloween option for downtown kids is jumping on the ferry and heading out to Ward’s Island. Purchase your ticket online and head for the ferry docks at the foot of Bay Street. There are typically three ferries leaving downtown, so ensure you get the one for Ward’s Island.
(Yes, you can get to the ferry docks by transit: Queens Quay (Ferry Docks) station is across the street from the ferry docks – and is one underground streetcar stop from Union Station.)
Yes, we talk a lot about downtown kid things, but the parents of downtown Toronto kids need some tasty beverages — namely: craft beer. Now that Ontario’s alcohol laws have changed, your ability to buy take out craft beer in downtown Toronto has very much changed. Sure, the LCBO stocks a decent selection of Ontario craft beers (and The Beer Store – and some grocery stores – will have some as well), but there are many breweries (in Ontario and beyond) that simply don’t have the ability (or the desire) to get listed in the LCBO. To find such beers, you can usually get them from the breweries themselves (walk-in or have them delivered) but many of such breweries aren’t downtown for easy take-out. So, where can you buy craft beer downtown aside from the LCBO?
There’s a little playground very much off the beaten path in Toronto’s Corktown neighbourhood: Bright Street Playground. Yes, it’s on Bright Street. You may ask, ‘Where is Bright Street?’ It’s short north-south street that runs between King Street East and Queen Street East (just west of Sumach Street) that is full of cute houses that sit right up to the edge of the street. Almost where Bright Street meets Queen Street East, sits the fairly quiet Bright Street Playground.
The Sherbourne Common splash pad (officially named the Paul Quarrington Ice Rink and Splash Pad) is highly recommended by this writer. Located along Queen’s Quay East – at the foot of Lower Sherbourne, this splash pad is not super fancy, but still checks many boxes. Especially for those in East Bayfront and nearby neighbourhoods (St. Lawrence, Harbourfront/South Core, Distillery District, Corktown), this is one to check out.