74samantha

Hi,

I was just wondering what people's experiences are of raising children in Australia compared to the UK. In reality (ie not through rose-tinted glasses) what does Australia do better and what does it do worse?

I have two toddler age children and we're planning to emigrate in the next couple of years (when the house finally sells!), and want to have my eyes open to the reality of the child-raising differences in the two countries.

Thanks.

PS - as an aside, does Australia have an equivalent to the wonderful (ha!) British chav, and if so what are they called?

Officer Dibble

Australia is an ideal place for bringing up kids as there are a lot of outdoorsy things for them to do and plenty of sports clubs etc.

By all accounts its being a stay at home parent that can be tough as you may feel isolated. Personally, I liked being a kid in Australia but growing up in the UK was a lot of fun as a teenager anyway (not that Ive grown up)

As for chavs - theres nothing here that even compares to the classy chav BUT the new Brits are doing a good job at raising their own version and there are plenty of imports. Dunno bout other states but its very hard here in Adelaide to find a place to buy a garish tracksuit and my knock off Burberry cap is starting to look like it was pecked by birds, so my chav days are over.

moneypenny20

Not sure it's any different with regards to my two girls. Life and their expectations were no different in the UK to here. Granted we all prefer the weather but loads of people, depending on where they settle have even more issues with the heat than the cold.

It comes down to where you live in the UK and how your perception of the UK is, and where you settle here and how you perceive life to be here. We're all different. You could end up in an area which has higher crime, vandalism and drug figures than where you lived in the UK so it would appear that you had made a mistake moving 'for the sake of the kids'. Someone else could move to the same area but leave from a really run down area and think they were living in paradise.

Kids will play, have friends and do stuff. They will grow up and either go to work or uni. They will struggle to get on the property ladder, they may struggle to find work all regardless of whether they are in the UK or Australia.

dickchap

I would say it depends on where you live. I haven't found that it has been better to bring up my kids here. I thought they would have loads to do outdoors but it's either too hot or raining. There is only a small window between 4 and 5.30pm when the kids can play outside here due to heat it also gets dark very early. In the Uk they can play out for longer and have friends in the neighborhood to play with, we don't see many kids playing out. I think they have a better choice of activities in the UK and the clubs are better run. There are also more indoor activities to do. My boys have lost interest in doing things here and spend more time playing indoors with each other.

It's more of a personal thing as I say it's not better, but others will disagree.

K14

Our kids do pretty much the same things that they did in UK (horseriding, ballet). We lived in a nice area in the UK and live in a similar area here.

Our school (don't know if it's all schools) doesn't have any after school clubs so you have to pick them up and take them off somewhere else to do clubs. Which is fine but much easier if you're working for them to stay at school.

They do spend less time digging around in the garden for bugs (as I'm a bit paranoid about what they might come across!).

I was a bit frustrated during the summer holidays that we couldn't do alot outside as the weather was too hot for most of the day. But the rest of the year the climate's fine. (We're in Perth).

There is one big difference for us- my husband loves the weather here and we do alot more as a family at weekends. He says its because the weather's better he feels like going out and doing things rather than sitting inside -(which he did in UK).

Hope that helps at bit.

Nu-Shooz

From our experience OZ isn't any better to bring kids up. Depends on what you want in life, but we prefer the education in UK and my kids weren't too keen on the hot weather.

OzWannabee

I think it definately depends where you live. We were in the suburbs for 2 years and it wasn't a lot different to the UK. The streets were too busy for them to play on and we only had a very small garden. They were indoors most of the time unless we took them somewhere.

We've been living semi-rural for nearly 18 months and have found a big difference. Most people around here live on acerage or large blocks so they always seem to be outside. The kids are also more interested in nature and animals etc, they've started their own worm farm (yuk), they go cross country running, walk the dog, camping, bike riding, fishing and do loads of sports because that's what their mates do. We obviously spend a lot more time at the beach. My 11 year old used to be a real Playstation/Wii addict and I used to have to time how long he could go on it for. Now we can go over a week and he hasn't even switched it on.

The heat doesn't seem to bother them, just slap on loads of sunscreen and a hat and the parks usually have lots of trees so its really shady but if they get really hot they get in the pool.

The only thing I can't get used to is the kids not wearing anything on their feet it drives me mad but they hate shoes now! When their friends come round they usually have bare feet!

It suits us here but it definately would not suit everyone!

rab

One of the big differences for the kids is the school curriculum. My friend migrated here and his kids are still not at the same academic level as when they left UK two years ago. Here they seem to concentrate on social skills and sport but the academic level is lower and the requirement to do homework is very light compared to UK.

No doubt there are good teachers and well run schools, but even in the private schools where you might expect them to be pushed more they have the same simple curriculum.

The other basic decision is do you want to bring your child up an Australian? That's an easy choice for some, but for me it's a concern, as I am still proud to be a product of the UK education system. I know I am dumb for not thinking it through when we moved here but that was six years ago and my daughter is only 19 months old. We are already considering schools in our choice of where to eventually move to back in the UK.

Now I'm gonna sit back and wait to slated for the above by teachers and parents here

aussietobe

Of course you are entitled to your opinion, but the educational stats do not stack up in your favour - in all academic areas, Australian kids score better.

TrentEnd

I'm with Rab on this. I'd find it hard to bring my young baby up as an Australian because she'd have nothing in common with me then. Tough life choices or what!?
We've been in Sydney for 4 years and we're considering moving back to England. As many posters have said, it's not necessarily the country, but the particular place where you live, eg) if you came from a rough, poverty stricken town in England you might be glad to leave, but if you lived in a nice area, why would you want to leave, unless you were desperate for 30c+ temperatures?

moneypenny20

I find that one of the strangest comments I've heard Obviously your baby wouldn't be brought up in the same place as you were, but she's have everything possible in common with you. She'd have your heritage, history, family, etc etc etc. Was your upbringing identical to that of your mother, or your father? Even if it were in the same town, the experiences would have been totally different. She's your child, can't get more in common than that.

For what it's worth, I'm very happy with the education system here and the fact that teenagers go to Uni and fight for the same jobs around the world as other nations teenagers, tells me that the Australian system is just as good as anywhere else in the long run. Judging it against the single fact that they start teaching the ABCs later than in the UK is worthless unless you are only intending being here for a couple of years, but even then, they would soon catch up with their peers.

Bluekim

Where abouts in Aus are you?

BadgeIsBack

Also - for what's it worth, aspects of the dual heritage might even make them more interesting, or well-rounded.

It so happens my wife is bi-lingual - she was born overseas to parents who were bi-lingual - even though she lived in the Uk for 20 odd years. So now we have 2 daughters who were completely 'bi' by age 2. It's a marvel. And due to all that, they have 3 passports with the chance of 4 if another family member gets their finger out. And I then get my 3rd too!

There are people whose kids aren't doing too well - but there are all sorts of explanations for some of that. There are details about the system which offend all sorts of people - bit of a mixed bag that one.

Just about every Australian I know has lived and got a job in Europe - some in blue chip companies.

rab

You hit the nail on the head. They are tough choices indeed.

I went to grammar school in UK, received good discipline and a broad and thorough academic education. I want my daughter to have that and share British values and experiences.

I want to able to show her castles and medieval buildings, take her Dublin and Prague, let her go on school trips to real mountains and learn survival on Dartmoor. I want her to read Shakespeare and learn about the Tudors and the Industrial Revolution.

I want to take her to see Newcastle against Manchester United. I want to go to Warriors against London Irish, for gingerbread in Grasmere, tea in Yorkshire and when she's old enough a beer and a dram in an old pub in the Highlands.

I have loved every minute of living and working in Australia, but I have serious doubts about bringing up my daughter here. She's got an Aussie mum and an English dad, but in fact we all have both blue and red passports. So she's got dual heritage. And funnily her mum is the bigger driver for going to UK.

Our daughter's childcare is absolutely excellent by the way, but the moment she develops an Australian accent we're going home!

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OMG the critics are going to steam into me for that!

NKSK version 2

Yes., it is better.