weez75

Hi,smee again

my 2 boys are on a bit of a roller coaster of emotions at the mo, and i think all of the down rides are due to feeling that they are the only kids going through this,i know there are several kids on this site that are having the wobbles , it really helped my boys to read about their doubts and also give advice to them i would love to hear from the kids that have had to go through the big move , what they were scared of before they went and how they feel about things now , we know all about the negatives ( missing friends , having to start a new school) so we would just love to hear some exciting things , just something to read to lift spirits when they are having a low moment


I REALLY look forward to hearing the kids side of things so please parents grab your kids for a few seconds and squeeze some info out of them
thanks

Wendy

How old are your boys honey?

I'll ask my two kids to send you a PM after school

camacazi

hi

my 7 yr old daughter had a bit of a wobbly last nite.
she doesn't want to go anymore as she'll miss her friends and the dog and her own home.
tried to make it sound v exciting about beaches an waterparks and maybe her own pool
also reminded her off webcam!
got the camcorder out and showed her video and photos from our recci, that seemed to brighten her mood.
can understand how she feels, must be so hard and confusing for them.
5 yr old boy just wants to know when we're goin to our new home an get new jeep!!

scrum

I have 2 girls aged 8 and 10 who were in the same position as yours.

In the weeks before we left they were anxious, cranky, sad, happy, excited you name it and they felt it. Their emotions were all over the place.

In hindsight we did things exactly right. We kept them informed every step of the way. They helped with the packing and decided what would go to charity, to the school, in the plane and what would be shipped. I think this process really helped them.

We went to Cork and said our goodbyes and when we got home I arranged a party for them with all of their friends. They absolutely loved that. Then we went to Dublin and said our goodbyes there before flying out.

They didn't cry in front of anyone but did have "secret" conversations when they were in bed at night.

If anyone, said they were going to miss them we answered with "but it's only 24 hrs away" it can take you that long to travel to the UK sometimes. We got cards printed with our Skype address, their email addressess and our postal address in Oz on them and gave one to each of their friends.

As a family we decided that we would look on the whole thing as our adventure and the girls decided that we were just like the people in the Lord of the Rings. When you step outside your door you never know where you will end up.

Now that we have arrived - we only came out on Dec 20th - things are fantastic. The girls have never once cryed or mentioned going home. We found a rental, have them in a wonderful school, they are getting swimming lessons and they have both joined scouts over here. They absolutely love it and the mere mention of returning brings shouts of no from both of them.

They send and receive emails from their "old" friends regurlarly and I let them use Skype once every 3 weeks to keep in touch with special people.

I can honestly say that both of them are thriving and moving here was the best thing we could ever have done - I'm only sorry we didn't do it years ago.

In school they have one teacher who is deaf so every child is taught sign language, they have art with an art teacher once a week, music with a music teacher once a week, PE twice a week, IT for at least 2.5 hours every week, they can try out for the school teams in swimming, basketball, running, etc. It is just fantastic.

Put your mind at rest, it's probably fear of the unknown that is effecting your little ones.

I have done and am continuing with a blog that I send to family and friends on a fortnightly basis - if you want you can PM me with your email address and I'll send you a copy. It has everything in it that we went through physically and emotionally since before we came here.

I hope this helps.

Trish

AndyR1976

One word for you ladies...


BRIBERY.....

tell them you'll buy them a bigger better dog and that they can have an ipod each and you'll buy them a porsche when they are old enough

Job done.....no need to thank me!

weez75

Hey we are bribing all the way to the bank!!
But emotions still take over , my 7 year old is going with the flow more but my emotional soon to be 11 year old is also battling hormones so is having major wobblies , he has always been extremely emotional and is a shy chappie as well so any kiddie feed back i know will help him so much

JenniGee

Hi
I've got two daughters, 11 & 12, so I know what you're going through. They're having a good spell at the moment (it will be the end of the year before we go, but we need to get a Court Order so had to tell them sooner rather than later)

I've found that including them in everything, down to helping to do the scanning for ACS helped enormously. They've gone from "we're not going, not now, not ever!" to "when we move to Australia, can we....." But they have good days & bad days, like we all do I suppose

I'll try & get my 11 year old to pm you later & there is the Youth Club Forum here, but it's a bit of a slow board & in my experience kids like instant answers & instant replies. I think that's why msn is so popular.