The Kids Are Alright?

[Adventurefamily]

We have two children currently aged 9 (son) and 12 (daughter). As we begin this "move to south island NZ" decision making process, if there anyone who can provided any insight into the pros and cons for the kids? Obviously, this is dependent on personality, etc., but any input would be welcome, good or bad. Thanks!

[Mamee & Co]

My twin sons were 8 when we made the move:-

Pros
The lifestyle is more outdoors compared to our Scottish lifestyle...due primarily to the weather
The schools are more holistic and seem to have a better underrstanding of how boys work...here my sons are not classed as fidgeters for not sitting still and are sent to run in the playground to work it off, rather than being told to sit still.
Children seem to play better in mixed groups, teenagers are on the beach playing volleyball rather than hanging around on street corners

Cons
If your children are sensitive there is more of a "toughen up" attitude to life....however mine are now both seeing this as a challenge
Roads and carsickness!!!
Upset at leaving friends (though to some extent this can be counteracted by skype)

[Janey]

coming from a small English village
Pros
more friends, activities, things like going to the beach are free (parking at UK resorts is extoriate) taking part is for anyone who wants to regardless of talent

Cons
long way from reli's, long road trips to go somewhere else, choice of toys, electronics and clothing is limited

[Adventurefamily]

Thanks for the feedback! At some point this will just have to be a leap of faith. I keep wondering what the USA would be looking like to people thinking about moving here with their kids from other parts. We just had a high school shooting - 1 seriously injured boy - about a month ago, literally in the next town! And this is the Mid-West! Too much happening here on so many levels that NZ just grows more and more appealing for raising kids.

[Familyofmonkeys]

NZ just grows more and more appealing for raising kids.

Whilst NZ is far from being a utopia, and there are plenty of things to complain about here.....it is a great place to raise children!


Pros:
Outdoor lifestyle....there are tons of things to do that are either free, or far cheaper than other countries.

Places are very child friendly on the whole, so it's much easier to take kids on holiday, weekends away, meals out etc.

Schooling has an emphasis on skills based learning, rather than fact based academic learning, which is more suitable for many children who underachieve in other schooling environments.

Less commercialised childhood here, and you rarely find kids with bedrooms full of electronic gadgets etc.

Less peer pressure......kids here are much less bothered about having the right clothes or the right shoes to fit in with their peers. There is also no stigma attached to buying second hand.



Cons:
IMO the school system is not academically rigourous for the more advanced children, and getting the right school can become really important.

More expensive healthcare for kids (compared to UK).

There is more gender stereotyping here. Boys who are not into sports can find a lack of out of school activities to take part in (especially when they are younger) compared to girls, who often do things like dance, drama or art classes instead. This is more obvious in some areas than others, but I think because so many kiwi men here are into their sports/rugby/boats/fishing etc that it ends up rubbing off on their children.

[dharder]

Really depends on your children I would have thought.

Ours were 8 and 4 when we left, and leaving friends was difficult for the older ones. Got over it quite quickly, though.

Better here (yes, there are those things even I acknowledge ): my children walk and cycle to school by themselves, that wasn't allowed at our UK primary school (we are the exception, though). The playground at school is bigger and they are moving more in the breaks (I won't go into what I think they learn or don't learn between those breaks...)

I find activities quite limited if you are looking for something slighlty outside the norm, and then especially if it doesn't conform to the gender stereotyping that I have found to be quite prevalent here especially for boys (as mentioned above). No problem playing rugby or cricket, or netball for girls, but that is about it.

I can also see that once you turn into a teenager and are not into sports, you're stuffed. I would never move here with a teenager not into popular sports, and find the impending teenagedom of my older children a good reason to put more effort into my move away from here. The whole ‘free beach sandcastle’ life style doesn’t hold the same appeal for children at different ages (and types).

In general, I don’t think that the outdoor active healthy lifestyle here is a given. You still have to make it happen, just like anywhere else. I find the children walk/cycle less to get around and are driven everywhere, I don’t see the children here in our area out hiking, tramping and doing other outdoorsy stuff on the weekends… In fact, I am often surprised at how little of that they do. We had more friends in London who were into that kind of thing than here (this is my personal family experience).

Daniela