Photo by Mr. T in DC.

In what has, for whatever silly reason, become the story to chat about around the local media this week, Parenting magazine rated Washington D.C. the number one place for families in the country, citing our vast supply of cultural institutions, recreational opportunities and kid-friendly restaurants as signs that the District is the place to raise a kid. Of course, not everyone agrees.

For example, Douglas Fruehling of the Washington Business Journal (whose entire piece on the subject is sadly behind a paywall):

I wouldn’t raise a Chia Pet here, let alone children.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Washington. But there’s just no possible way Parenting is painting an accurate picture of the city as a place to raise kids. They say you can use statistics to show anything, but never, ever in my whole journalism career have I seen a more flawed assessment, a more statistically haywire conclusion…

…and, well, you can imagine how the rest of the post goes.

Now, there’s little question that Parenting’s listicle is hardly concrete evidence that we’re the best. But it’s also hard to argue that D.C. is a parenting dystopia; despite Fruehling’s hyperbole, it’s more than possible to successfully raise a child here — the genesis of this kind of event is an indicator of that.

Now, I don’t have children, and fates willing, won’t for some time, if ever. (I am aware that saying that practically guarantees that I’ll be buying cribs and booties in a few weeks. Too late to knock on wood?) Point is, no matter how much I read about the city’s public schools, juvenile crime and housing costs inside our city, I still don’t have any practical experience with raising children in D.C., and therefore, am woefully unqualified to chime in on the validity of such rankings.

Parents who read DCist — and, yes, I know there are a few of you, so don’t be shy — what’s the story here?