Stressed 17 year old moving to Brisbane

[natma1]

Hi there, my name is Natalie age 34 and have a 17 year old daughter called Francesca.
For the past few month she has been stating that she is not making the move to Brisbane with us and we are due to move in June 2008 approximately.

I believe that she is worried that she is not going to be able to make the same level of friend base that she has in the UK.

Please help.

If you are interested in emailing and/or talking to Francesca and help her make the move and make new friends please respond.

P.S. our 2 areas we have considered to move to are Sunshine Coast or Bribie Island, Queensland and would love to here from teens here making the move or there already.

Many thanks, Natalie.

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Natalie

Welcome to Poms in Oz.

There are lots of stressed teenagers around the site now (plus their stressed parents!)

If Francesca can tell us more about the sorts of activities that interest her, I'm sure we can get her some friends with similar interests in the areas of Oz that you are considering (well, Brisbae, anyway. Not sure about Bribie Island.)

What will Francesca be doing once she gets to Oz? School? College? Uni?

The reason I ask is because if you have identified where F will be going to school or whatever, you may well find that you can arrange for the school/collee/uni to put her in touch with a student who is already there, which might help.

Best wishes

Gill

[natma1]

Thanks for such a speedy responce, here is a bit of background on Francesca.

Francesca is 17, 18 in August and has been an Apprentice Hairdresser in the UK since finishing school here June 2006. She finishes her NVQ2 this Summer and we are waiting until then to make the move.

Fran loves R&B music, chick flick movies, her mobile phone which is attatched to her ear must of the time and she enjoys swimming. She's not too keen on any activity that is too demanding on a teenager....ie the Gym or outdoor sports....unless she is spectating.

Fran sees friends as an extention to family, so hopefully she will have a family of friends before we arrive in 5 months or so.

We are more likely to move to Sunshine Coast between Maroochydore and Caloundra.

[kdal]

Hi Natalie

I have 2 teenage boys 16 and 14, we went to Oz last year and they both loved it and cant wait to move there. Not sure where you live in the UK but we are in Essex and now and again have an Essex meet, my boys come with us to the meets and Mrs C whom logs on here also has teenagers 2 girls and a boy they also go to the meets.

If your in Essex or nearby then catch up with us on the next one!

Regards

[natma1]

Sounds great, please let me know the next time a meeting occurs.
We live in Reading, Berkshire but Essex isn't too far from us.
Many thanks, Natalie.

[kdal]

Will do Natalie hopefully the next one will be soon. Good luck

[KazzE]

Hi Natalie


if you have seen any of my recent posts then you will know you are not alone

from my experience all you can do is keep talking, be as up front and honest as you can be and hope for the best.

You are right to try to find her people to talk to before you go and I am sure the meet ups will help too, if you can get her to go that is, mine would never go and we ended up missing them due to other things clashing.

Of course you could always try bribary and corruption - has not worked on my stubborn little moo (or self assured, knows her own mind almost grown up teen, depending on how you look at it )

take care

[KazzE]

Hi Natalie

yep that is the sort of reaction I am getting

Australia is stupid, the culture is stupid

I just don't want to go

I am very sympathetic to how difficult this move could be, but I know from my great wise old age (45!) that 3 years study will fly by, she will make new friends and will stay in touch with the ones she has know, most of them will still be her friends in years to come

I went into Connextions today, I asked her to go in last week, which she did, but they offered her a career support talk, when what I asked her to do was try to talk to someone about the situation and try to get things in perspective
so I went in and explained a bit, embarrassed myself by crying - but they rang her and she is going in tomorrow

All I want is for her to actually face what is happening and talk it through with someone who can hopefully help her work through the options

I am fast loosing any hope that she will actually give Melbourne a try, this also disappoints me as I really thought she would be more sensible about it all

ah well, life would be dull without them

[Evil-Lancaster]

a but of advice i would give to any 17 year old:

hey im 17, and am one of those stressed teenagers gollywobblers is on about.

ive been in OZ for 3 weeks, in WA its supposedly the 2nd biggest city in WA but its more like a little town!

Anyway i really didnt want to come, it took my 17 years to get the group of friends i had and their was no way i was going to leave them. But, my parents nagged and moaned and even a few of my friends told me to go away and get out their, and im glad im did.

I can allready see that theirs so much to do here and ive only been here for 3 weeks, their hasnt been 1 days where ive sat and done nothing, and ive tried so many new things since ive been here.

its is incredibly hard leaving ur mates, it all got a bit emotional the last night, but i found out your true friends will always be their for you, and ive kept on contact through them with web and by phone.

either way, australia is something totally new, and even if worst does come to worse, then you can always go back, i used to go to 6th form college, and i know if something were to happen i could always just go back and start the year again next year, its not the end of the world. and i knew ide kick myself if i didnt come.

plus, i bribed my parents to pay for 2 friends to come over for a few weeks one holiday, so i know ile see them again sometime soon anyway.