Quality of life for kids

[wattsy1982]

agreed but THEY might not be exaggerating, it might be how they see/feel about things, how do we know how they feel/felt about things...we don't, we are only thinking that they couldn't have felt like that because WE didn't......

anyhow, this is a topic that could go on for years and is never right or wrong.

[Toots]

2 hours ago, wattsy1982 said:

agreed but THEY might not be exaggerating, it might be how they see/feel about things, how do we know how they feel/felt about things...we don't, we are only thinking that they couldn't have felt like that because WE didn't......

anyhow, this is a topic that could go on for years and is never right or wrong.

Exactly.  We could discuss it forever and a day.  All I know is, my two Aussie born sons were always healthy and happy with loads of friends and received a good education from pre school 'til they finished uni.  It is more than likely they would have had the same experiences in the UK.

[jonnyraceway]

agreed but THEY might not be exaggerating, it might be how they see/feel about things, how do we know how they feel/felt about things...we don't, we are only thinking that they couldn't have felt like that because WE didn't......
anyhow, this is a topic that could go on for years and is never right or wrong.

This could go for years so, just to finalise this thread, Aus has a waaaaaaaay better quality of life for children.

Here endeth the lesson.... [emoji1]

[Skani]

3 hours ago, MissMissingEurope said:

Where do you live, just out of curiosity? 

Hobart, Tasmania.  The old version of PIO used to show a poster's location   (if you wanted to show it)  .  I keep forgetting that this one doesn't.

[Toots]

On 04/03/2018 at 02:02, bunbury61 said:

I could do with Nov - apr in w.a ...no whingeing from me ?

Mum used to come from the end of November to March every 2nd year.  She loved it!  She coped with the summer heat better than me.  

[Johndoe]

On 3/3/2018 at 08:31, bristolman said:

You know how those of us living happily in the UK feel when we read the silly comments on here then. I'm not saying it's right in either direction but people feel the need to 'retaliate' for want of a better word. 

What a load of bollox. Their own personal frustrations are placed higher on the scale of what this web site is about?  It's about imparting fair and unbiased information to potential migrants and returnees. Of course, you are one of those apologists for those who are bitter and twisted about their experiences, and hopefully, any newcomers to the form will see through the chaff.

It's be a freezing day in hell when any returnees would ever post something similar to your above when someone wanted to ping pong back to Oz

[Johndoe]

On 3/3/2018 at 03:56, Home and Happy said:

Hi there - we got the same negative thing too but we  ignored it.  Mostly from bitter frustrated folk caught in a rut, stuck in the rat race living month to month as you do out there. Most with no brains to question it, no guts to openly admit it, just grinning and bearing it and telling themselves it would get better but it never does.  Looking back, most of them would secretly have given anything to get back home to Britain.  

You really are devoid of any comprehension of how other folk, happy in Oz,  live. You are so wrapped up and embittered by your disillusionment with Oz that you are devoid of any comprehension that others may actually love it here whilst actually having brains and guts. I put it to you, that it is likely you who is devoid of brains or guts. Lacking the brains to realiise that moving to Oz wouldn't suit you, and lacking the guts to admit it, plus the fact that people with more brains, might might actually see where your bitterness is derived from.

Loving Oz does not equate to a lack of brains or guts  and your inference that it does, shows how little brains you have. If you want to present an argument, present it with facts, clarity, and lack of bias...............not once have you done this in all your bitter posts. How sad your existence that now Home And Happy, you seem anything but............still haunted and embittered by your failed past.

[simmo]

On 3/2/2018 at 17:56, Home and Happy said:

Hi there - we got the same negative thing too but we  ignored it.  Mostly from bitter frustrated folk caught in a rut, stuck in the rat race living month to month as you do out there. Most with no brains to question it, no guts to openly admit it, just grinning and bearing it and telling themselves it would get better but it never does.  Looking back, most of them would secretly have given anything to get back home to Britain.   As for the weather,  the dry suffocating desert heat and going almost the whole year hardly seeing rain is depressing.  Kids have a good quality of life here. Once they get to teenage years the teen culture they have in UK is so much more happening for them than living an existence on a suburb....I would not wish that on anybody over the age of 13 years old.  Life is for living. 

Its funny, I remember telling friends and fam we were moving to australia and it was all best wishes, good lucks and general good will.  Then when telling friends and colleagues I was moving back  it was like I had just curled one out on their living room floor!  They seemed to take it personally.  I never said (out loud) anything negative about the place or that the place didn't really seem to stimulate me but I would still get looks of disbelief.. like "what do you mean you don't want to live in Australia!!".

weird...   

[bunbury61]

13 hours ago, jonnyraceway said:

 

 

This could go for years so, just to finalise this thread, Aus has a waaaaaaaay better quality of life for children.

Here endeth the lesson....

 

I would say for young children , in the main ,that is largely true ....until they want to fly in their late teens ...then its Europe all day long

[bristolman]

1 minute ago, bunbury61 said:

I would say for young children , in the main ,that is largely true ....until they want to fly in their late teens ...then its Europe all day long

Depends on the child I think, ours had no interest in outdoors stuff so it made no difference to them. I guess if they were into surfing it might have been different. 

[tea4too]

1 hour ago, bunbury61 said:

I would say for young children , in the main ,that is largely true ....until they want to fly in their late teens ...then its Europe all day long

From an adult's point of view, perhaps. But children tend to see the world differently, their priorities are simpler and they value different things. It didn't matter to my child that she learnt to swim in an indoor pool, or needed a wet suit to bodyboard in West Wales - she just has great memories of those days. Her Aussie cousins took it for granted that they would regularly spend hours travelling to their football games because of the distance involved, and didn't worry that they missed umpteen family get togethers because they lived on the other side of the world - their focus was different, but their childhoods were still full and happy.

And as they grow up they will have choices and find their own path, made easier because they have all been lucky enough to be raised in a first world country. T x 

[ali]

2 hours ago, bunbury61 said:

I would say for young children , in the main ,that is largely true ....until they want to fly in their late teens ...then its Europe all day long

I don't know .. my two have been happy enough in their teens, but they have had the opportunity to travel too which has broadened their horizons. 

[wattsy1982]

9 hours ago, Johndoe said:

You really are devoid of any comprehension of how other folk, happy in Oz,  live. You are so wrapped up and embittered by your disillusionment with Oz that you are devoid of any comprehension that others may actually love it here whilst actually having brains and guts. I put it to you, that it is likely you who is devoid of brains or guts. Lacking the brains to realiise that moving to Oz wouldn't suit you, and lacking the guts to admit it, plus the fact that people with more brains, might might actually see where your bitterness is derived from.

Loving Oz does not equate to a lack of brains or guts  and your inference that it does, shows how little brains you have. If you want to present an argument, present it with facts, clarity, and lack of bias...............not once have you done this in all your bitter posts. How sad your existence that now Home And Happy, you seem anything but............still haunted and embittered by your failed past.

Why bother responding to someone who is "devoided" "disillusioned" "bitter" "lacking brains or guts" blah blah blah.......GET OVER IT.....

[Toots]

4 hours ago, bristolman said:

Depends on the child I think, ours had no interest in outdoors stuff so it made no difference to them. I guess if they were into surfing it might have been different. 

There's a helluva lot more to outdoors stuff than surfing.    I practically live outdoors and I never go surfing.

[Toots]

2 hours ago, ali said:

I don't know .. my two have been happy enough in their teens, but they have had the opportunity to travel too which has broadened their horizons. 

Same with mine.  Can't believe folk who believe young adults are "stuck" in Australia.   At the moment my two are working overseas.  One might stay there.  The other will be back.  They have travelled a lot overseas too.

[Skani]

1 hour ago, wattsy1982 said:

Why bother responding to someone who is "devoided" "disillusioned" "bitter" "lacking brains or guts" blah blah blah.......GET OVER IT.....

We ignore them as much as possible.  But when they rant on interminably   with the same repetitious guff  we, too,   have a right to  say occasionally......GET OVER IT.

[Booma]

4 hours ago, bunbury61 said:

I would say for young children , in the main ,that is largely true ....until they want to fly in their late teens ...then its Europe all day long

maybe its an age thing but when i was growing up in uk me & my friends used to dream of going to much more exotic places then Europe.  Europe was somewhere we associated with holidays with our parents. 

[wattsy1982]

10 minutes ago, Skani said:

We ignore them as much as possible.  But when they rant on interminably   with the same repetitious guff  we, too,   have a right to  say occasionally......GET OVER IT.

I hear what you are saying totally but I personally wouldnt bother giving the time/response to someone if they were talking rubbish.

[simmo]

4 hours ago, Toots said:

There's a helluva lot more to outdoors stuff than surfing.    I practically live outdoors and I never go surfing.

stop now you are shattering my illusion.

[bristolman]

9 hours ago, Toots said:

There's a helluva lot more to outdoors stuff than surfing.    I practically live outdoors and I never go surfing.

Oh yes, surfing was just used as an example. 

[bunbury61]

18 hours ago, ali said:

I don't know .. my two have been happy enough in their teens, but they have had the opportunity to travel too which has broadened their horizons. 

agreed Ali .....but ....and it is a big but .....my two are 10 mins from the airport and a 40 quid flight from barcelona , berlin or most other places in Europe .

its actually cheaper , and almost as quick as the train to London

[bunbury61]

15 hours ago, Booma said:

maybe its an age thing but when i was growing up in uk me & my friends used to dream of going to much more exotic places then Europe.  Europe was somewhere we associated with holidays with our parents. 

????.....europe has it all ....mountains , snow , sun , scenery , architecture , culture .

honestly , its a hell of a lot more than the costa del sol

Vienna , Prague , Paris , Rome , Venice , London , Innsbruck , Swiss alps , versaille and thousands of other places.....its a no brainer

seriously ,once you start doing it , there's no need to go anywhere else .

a few of mates have places in France and Spain and flit between there and the u.k ....best of both worlds

when its too hot in the Spanish summer or too boring in the Spanish winter , my mate comes home .

checks out a chez flight to Murcia airport , for pennies sometimes , and flies back .

Spain , in the main ,doesnt do it for me ...dont like the landscape .....but some of the cities are absolutely stunning ...portugal , the same

[Ferrets]

On 20/02/2018 at 14:30, MissMissingEurope said:

Hi everyone, i'm a new member on here but a long-time reader of the MBTTUK forum! I've been in Perth for 8 years now with my husband and have 2 kids who are 4 and 1. We are all dual UK/Aus citizens. We have been considering moving back for years now and have pretty much decided that we will do it, but it will take us a couple of years to organise everything and save up enough money to do it. We have already ping-ponged once over 10 years ago so we are aware that both places have their pros and cons and we aren't looking at the UK through rose-tinted glasses/with a grass is greener outlook. 

Reasons for moving back: wanting to be closer to friends and family, boredom with Perth, not liking the isolation, hating suburbia, bored of the samey weather and lack of distinct seasons, missing Europe (oh so much! I have NEVER stopped missing Europe since we arrived here) and the ability to travel cheaply, wanting our kids to grow up being able to experience all the Europe has to offer instead of living in the insular bubble that is Perth. 

We aren't sure where in the UK we will move back to yet. I feel that if we are going to move back, we need to do it soon because if we stay here too long we will get "stuck" here.. our kids will become proper aussies, they will attend high school then probably uni in oz, may settle and have kids here and then it will be so hard to move back! At least if we move soon and it doesn't work out, we can always come back before the kids start high school (though i doubt we would do that). I have met elderly British people here who long to go back to the UK but are stuck here because they have kids and grandkids here. I just cannot see myself living here into old age. 

The thing is, whenever I mention this plan to anyone (family included), I get really negative reactions and people telling me that it would be a terrible mistake to move our kids away from this place that apparently is "the best place in the world to raise kids". They make out like the UK is some third world country that's a terrible place for families and it really makes me worry that they are right and we are going to make a terrible mistake. They also comment on how awful the UK weather and act like we would be crazy to go back to it but honestly, i''m bored of the Perth weather.. i'm sure i'll miss the heat but weather is not everything. 

Because of the negative reactions, sometimes I feel like giving up on the dream of going back and just accepting that the best thing for our kids is just to stay here, even if we don't want to. Then again, I don't want to look back in 10 or 20 years and think "what if?"

I guess i'm just looking for some reassurance from someone.. did you move with young kids and find that it was actually ok? Do your kids have a good quality of life in the UK? Has anyone had similar negative reactions from people?

 

Hi there....without getting stuck into the Australia vs UK argument one thing that jumped to me was trying to avoid getting stuck with your kids settling in Australia.

As they have dual citizenship hasn't that horse already bolted to an extent in that they could all move back here as soon as legally entitled?

I appreciate that you need to do what's right but trying to avoid getting "stuck" when the kids have the passport anyway doesn't seem a good reason to me; quality of family life, happy family etc. yes, but not parent concern about where grandchildren may be born 

[Ferrets]

5 minutes ago, bunbury61 said:

????.....europe has it all ....mountains , snow , sun , scenery , architecture , culture .

honestly , its a hell of a lot more than the costa del sol

Vienna , Prague , Paris , Rome , Venice , London , Innsbruck , Swiss alps , versaille and thousands of other places.....its a no brainer

seriously ,once you start doing it , there's no need to go anywhere else .

a few of mates have places in France and Spain and flit between there and the u.k ....best of both worlds

when its too hot in the Spanish summer or too boring in the Spanish winter , my mate comes home .

checks out a chez flight to Murcia airport , for pennies sometimes , and flies back .

Spain , in the main ,doesnt do it for me ...dont like the landscape .....but some of the cities are absolutely stunning ...portugal , the same

However cities like Barcelona and Paris do zero for me or my family......

Conversely for us we can be in Auckland in 3 hours from where we are and the kids are far happier on a trip to NZ than Europe  

 

 

[Ferrets]

On 03/03/2018 at 08:20, Skani said:

I have never been to Perth.  But your version of Australia is nothing like the Australia where I live.   I have NEVER  experienced 

So please refer to Perth, not Australia, when you bang on. incessantly   I have many UK friends  some of them go back  for holidays but return saying..".it was nice to see family/friends but I wouldn't want to live there again".  The others are not interested even in returning for holidays any more.

Out of curiosity why does Perth seem to drive the most negative reactions from those leaving to return to the UK?

I get Melbourne and Sydney where people have come on an adventure rather than permanently migrate, but there seems a real bitterness about Perth where people have moved with families - and a lot of comments that simply don't match with my experiences since we arrived in Brisbane (though we are still two year noobs)

What's the reason?  And why do so many move to Perth in the first place?