coriuk

Ok, so I grew up in Australia, but chose to live in the UK as an adult. Now that I have kids of my own I am wondering whether it really is better for children. Obviously the weather and access to beaches etc is better. But what about safety? Do you let your children play out? Is there the same fear (unfounded or otherwise) of paedophiles, kidnapping etc. Are children and young people better behaved and more respectful than in the UK? or is it much or a muchness?
Especially as recently a UN survey said that UK was one of the worst places to bring up kids in the developed world. How does Australia, (especially the cities) compare?

LoobyLoo!

I personally think it maybe better, lets face it everywhere has its share of problems and risk factors but after living in Spain for a couple of years i realised how disrespectful and lacking in ambition kids in the uk are in comparison to other countries. My kids really enjoy the outdoors and i just cant imagine feeling comfortable with them ever playing out alone, in spain i wouldnt have been so hesitant although obviously still alittle anxious. I am hoping that australia will bring better oportunities for my kids, even if only slightly better, but lets face it, even as the report says, apart from third world countries theres not really a worse place to bring up your kids.

Katehn

Hi I grew up in Oz as well and am now planning to go back home. 17 yrs later! with 3 children.I think the main advantage is that you can use your garden " back yard" for most of the year as opposed to only about 10% ish of the year.
I think there will always be the same worries.

jad n rich

The survey your talking about was discussed on this forum. Australia did not submit information in certain categories, before we start another debate lets put it simply, if the UK and USA had done what australia did, left out some of its less choice data they too would have looked better places to live.

Could not stress enough, pedophiles and child abduction attempts are unfortunatley just as common here as any other country, kids being targeted outside schools is a particular problem one you hear about every few weeks. Never quite sure why anyone would think cause its australia it would have less people with the warped mentatlity that creates paedophiles etc All the same problems here, Howards just allocated 150 million to help target the ICE (drug) epedemic in young people.

Respect in schools, depends which one, I'd say the worst aspects of youth culture here is the much discussed teenage driving problem - hooning and the resulting deaths, pot smoking, petrol sniffing in remote communities and as said before the current ICE epedemic, plus a significant amount of bizzare teenage suicide/murder cases. Internet cults/ bullying might give a clue to that one.

Australian kids are no different to any other race really good and bad just like any other culture.

Hutch

As was pointed out to you at the time - you assume that the data Australia didn't submit would be 'bad'.

MartinLuther

From my experience it is better.

The fear and potential of paedophiles is the same as the UK.

The access to sports and beaches is better and cheaper (where you have to pay for something organised) than the UK.

Teenagers are much nicer here.

The playgrounds are typically better and in better condition.



DISCLAIMER: All the above is based on my experience in Victoria. I make no allusions as to what it's like in other parts of the country. The impression I get from the posts on here is that it's not as nice in Queensland.

wavy_davy

Of the last 9 apprentices to work for me, 3 smoked meth, one was a full on tripper and stoner, 8 out of 9 had a very fractured home life and only one has come from a stable background with her parents still together and she's probably the best one of the lot. This doesn't make them bad kids and has I've worked with young people for a long time now I must say the slacker, generation x mentality is more prevalent here in Oz but to no lesser extreme than the uk. Now I wouldn't say there's social decay here for fear of being twatted but it's certainly no better than the uk.

MartinLuther

Are you Jaime Oliver (or his Aussie mate)?

KatieStar

http://optuszoo.news.ninemsn.com.au/...es&_cobr=optus

Just read this. Very disappointing :P I guess there will be problem kids no matter where you are in the world.

I do love the freedom my little one has to be outside most of the year. He is definitely an out side bub, though he does like Bob the Builder as well LOL.

Gibbo

I have been here too long to be able to compare but I look at the freedom my grandchildren have to be children and play/roam outside and just have the freedom to be children and think that it can't be that bad!

Buzzy--Bee

Time to drag this thread up again -

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=364535

Buzzy

GinaUK

I think you should take into account that Australia is HUGE. Even in the UK, it will be different if you bring up a child in an inner-City London/Manchester/Liverpool suburb compared to a nice village in Suffolk.

If you read the "general" comments on here (do a search), then it seems Oz is the better place for kids.

But, maybe you should ask yourself how your area in the UK compares to the area in Oz where you intend to live?

Gina

James516

I'm in the same boat - grew up in Oz, now live in UK. Not got any kids yet, but it will probably happen in the next few years.

I think for me the biggest difference is in access to quality state education. In the UK, this is only achiveable by moving to a good catchment area, which costs gigabucks. A good school catchment area in Oz might still cost a lot to move to, but I don't think the situation is as distorted as it is in the UK.

Also, in Oz you have the third option of relatively cheap church schools (esp Catholic schools) - there's not really an equivalent 'third way' here in the UK.

jothefw

You know what? I just wrote the longest post arguing South Australia's case and how it isn't the same for us but I've deleted it.

Why?

I love what my kids life is like. It's better than UK.

We used our garden in UK for more than 10% of the year ... we came from a leafy Cambs village which you could liken to a Suffolk village (there were major problems) and we don't live in a city so perhaps OP isn't interested anyway!

But we feel, wholeheartedly, yes Australia is a better place for OUR children to grow up!

wereoutahere

I agree, We are going through our application at the moment, we live in a village in Cambridgeshire and apart from the twats driving their cars through the village at 80+ mph it is relatively quiet and trouble free. But, you only have to go a few miles to find the real day to day problems of stabbings, shootings, drugs and hooliganism. My personal opinion is that wherever you are, whatever country you are in, you will find the exact problems above not very far away. My family and I are all too aware of what could face us good or bad, if we dont like the area we end up, we move on to a better one, which could be only a few miles away from the trouble just like the UK.