amman, jordan: my desert-botany take on raising kids here (it's weird)
okay, so i’m a botanist, not a parenting blogger. my idea of ‘family-friendly’ is whether a kid can dig in soil without breaking a nail on plastic grass. but my sister just moved to amman with two toddlers and asked me to scout it. my mission: find parks, sniff out schools, and figure out if the ‘safety’ thing is real or just hotel brochure fear-mongering. here’s the raw notes from my field journal.
first, the weather is a character. right now it’s that kind of dry, punchy heat that feels like a concrete sauna-no humidity, just the sun punishing every patch of bare earth. but everything’s built on hills, so you get these insane, abrupt views of the city tumbling down valleys. it’s a short flight to the red sea for actual beaches, or a drive to the jordanian highlands for pine-scented coolness. but in the city itself? you’re in a giant, pale limestone bowl.
*parks: the good, the dead, and the suspiciously tidy
amman’s green is an act of rebellion. you have the kingtala’s garden in jabal lubban-it’s real, it’s got old olive trees and actual grass, but it’s also a museum piece, manicured to within an inch of its life. feels like a nice backdrop for engagement photos, not for a kid to roll around in. then there’s the al-husseini park downtown, which my dust-allergy nephew called ‘the saddest sprinkler system in the world.’ but! i found a hidden gem: the jabal al-weibdeh community garden project. locals have reclaimed a slope and planted native stuff-thyme, sage, even some wild pistachio. it’s messy, alive, and no one tells you to keep off the grass. that’s the family-friendly park i’d cite.
> “they told me the schools are all american or british curriculum and cost more than my car payment. also, traffic here isn’t ‘bad,’ it’s a competitive sport.” - overheard at a cafe in rainbow street, from an exhausted expat mom.
schools: the math is brutal. let’s be blunt. public schools are under-resourced, class sizes huge. for any family that can afford it, it’s the international schools: amman baccalaureate school, kings’ academy, etc. we’re talking 8,000-15,000 jd yearly. that’s not schooling, that’s a second mortgage. rent for a two-bed in a decent area like sweifieh or Abdoun? 300-600 jd a month. so you’re choosing between a nice apartment or a good school. it’s a brutal trade-off. the job market for expats is mostly aid agencies, NGOs, or consultants-high stress, high stakes. none of this ‘work-life balance’ fluff.
safety: the paradox. amman is statistically one of the safest capitals in the region. violent crime against foreigners is rare. but ‘family-friendly’ safety is different-it’s about sidewalks that vanish, cars that don’t stop for crosswalks, and the constant, low-grade anxiety that your kid will dart into a street where the concept of a ‘lane’ is a suggestion. you have to parent with traffic-avoidance skills. the real safety issue is the infrastructure, not the people.
> “just don’t let them touch the water from the tap, even for brushing teeth. and for god’s sake, teach them to say ‘no thank you’ firmly to every shopkeeper offering candy. it’s a scam.” - drunk advice from a canadian diplomat at a friends-of-friends thing.
so, is amman family-friendly? if your definition is ‘safe from crime, with access to top-tier (but bankrupting) schools and a couple of pretty-but-parched parks,’ then yes. if it’s ‘kids can bike to a friend’s house, play in a neighborhood park, and you don’t need a budget for private tuition,’ then no. it’s a city of incredible hospitality and crushing logistics.
quick, dirty amman data table for my sister*:
| item | cost/experience |
|---|---|
| avg 2-bed apartment (good area) | 400-600 jod/month |
| international school tuition | 10,000-18,000 jod/year |
| taxi from city center to airport | 20-30 jod |
| ‘safe’ feeling as a parent with kids | requires hyper-vigilance on roads |
some links that actually helped me, not the glossy junk:
- this reddit thread on moving to amman with kids is full of parents complaining about the same stuff.
- tripadvisor’s list of amman parks helps you see which ones are just concrete plazas with a tree.
- i found a local facebook group called ‘expats in amman - real talk’ (search it) where people sell used school uniforms and warn about landlords.
final verdict? amman will stretch you. you’ll learn to love the call to prayer echoing over traffic, find a favorite hole-in-the-wall for kanafeh, and maybe, just maybe, find a dusty corner of a community garden where your kid can make a mud pie that doesn’t involve microplastics. but you will also learn to clutch your wallet and your child’s hand tighter than you ever thought possible.
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