daunted

Hi - have only just read this thread (rain pounding outside is keeping me awake) It sounds like a terrible position to be in and I don't envy any of you right now.
I'm gonna join the ranks of wishing you all well in whatever decision you and you family make but would just like to say something (from my own point of view )
As a mother (yes a father too but you are happy here so lets see it from mums point of view for sec), to see your child so distressed and unhappy is heartbreaking. Throw into that equation that you feel guilty at having taken that child away from all that is familiar to her, friends, school and relatives, and unwittingly caused that distress the pain could be unbearable. Chuck into the equation that you have just left your mother who you are extremely close to, cant find a job and your husband cant get employment in the trade he is so experienced in, I'm not surprised (and understand why) she is ready to go home to familiar territory. I just wonder though if your daughter and your wifes distress are feeding off each other ie daughter is unhappy which makes mum unhappy, mum is unhappy which makes daughter unhappy. I was VERY lucky that my kids (and I) settled quickly and easily but I know for a fact it would have been a completely different story if the kids hadn't. Has your daughter managed to find a circle of friends? Its hard age to move kids - my daughter was about the same age when we came out here. Girls have a closer attachment to their friends and it is harder for them to slip into new friendship circles in a new school let alone a new country!
Ok not sure that it has meant much, or makes sense to anyone but me but wanted to say it
....and at the risk of over stepping the mark ..... have you all considered going to family counselling? Not with an agenda to brainwash everyone into staying in Australia but more to allow everyone to talk (with a referee) about what is concerning them and how to deal with the battleship of emotions you all been going through and will be going through on your return to UK.
Its gonna be a tough ride but wherever you all end up I wish you every happiness

moneypenny20

Makes sense to me. My eldest was adamant she wasn't coming, in fact she was going to live in a friends guinea pig hutch . Thankfully once here she was fine and settled in brilliantly but if she hadn't I can imagine the guilt and depression that would have caused in me.

Cheetah7

Pollyana

Wonder if she had consulted the guinea pig?!!!

moneypenny20

No she didn't, she obviously assumed the guinea pig would be grateful for the company . She changed her mind when I showed her the cobwebs in the hutch and then it was made definite when the friend's mother told her she loved her dearly but she didn't want another child, particularly another teenage girl

Cheetah7

I was in Better Pets and Gardens the other day and I saw some dog kennels, my god they were huge - could easily fit an adult human in them and they were over a grand.

You could fit an entire family in that - guinea pig hutches and dog kennels are sheer luxury these days