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Thread: Immigration with young family

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Tawa, Wellington
    Posts
    1

    Default Immigration with young family

    Hi all,

    Just wondering how people have found moving abroad with a young family? We are struggling with the distance from grandparents with our 2 year old and have tried talking to friends made over here. The problem is that everyone we chat with who have a young family seem to have 1 of the partners as a kiwi - which means 1 half of the extended family is close to hand. I would like to hear the experiences of those who have moved with no extended family over here and how they overcame/dealt with the challenges from it. For us it is the 1 thing pulling us back home.

    We think its a better lifestyle in New Zealand but then a support network for our son is important. Might be good to chat with others in a similar situation.

    Cheers.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    NZ
    Posts
    852

    Default

    I hope to hear more answers, but will offer you our half-useful story :-) We nearly started our visa process in 2007, but got pregnant and decided to stay in California, closer to family, at least for awhile. No regrets there really, but we didn't get much help from family as it turned out, since they didn't live in the same town as us. The early years are definitely tricky, but once you are in preschool you will start meeting families who in all likelihood will be happy to arrange a care-swap so you can at least have a date night now and then without paying a ton of $$$ for a babysitter.

    Now our kids are 7 and 9, they are close to their family members from holiday visits and whatnot, so I'm glad they had that chance, but we're all ready to try out living with much less frequent contact. We are trying to emigrate in 2018.

    Rebuilding a circle of friends will be easier for you with a two year old, I think - it seems to me that during the first 5-6 years, parents are really open to extending their network of friends, getting advice from each other and trying to make playdates. As the kids get old enough that they no longer need to be walked to their classrooms, the parent socializing falls off a bit. I don't know how different it is in NZ, but for me friends were much more useful than family in terms of childcare!

    Missing family members is a whole 'nother thing, but that's just something you can't get around :-) I hear the first two years is usually the big hurdle to get over, once the honeymoon period wears off. It's very normal, so look out for the two year itch!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Location
    NZ (Auckland; via Canada)
    Posts
    1,350

    Default

    My sister-in-law and her husband moved from the UK to Auckland in 2001 with a one year-old girl. Daughter #2 arrived a year after they landed here. My husband was living in Australia, but only visited them once before I dragged him to Canada in 2005. We moved here in 2012 so their nearest family were either Vancouver or London.

    There were aspects that were difficult, but they have zero regrets. Their girls could not ever have had such free childhoods anywhere in the UK. Couldn't have had the homes, the access to nature. Shopping sucked and public transport didn't really exist. But otherwise, sweet as

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