Very happy children...I think that's the secret. Just watch the kids here in OZ and compare them to the kids of the same age back home! Mucho mucho happier!

One other thing, it is difficult to predict your reaction to life abroad from the experiences of others. Accept homesickness, decide what's important for you with regard to location, work out what you need to live on without struggling and compare with your guaranteed salary. Be prepared for tough times at first (we survived on a pro rata wage of $36000 pa with $400 per week rental and two kids from October to December 2005) There isn't a great deal else you can do.

And you really need to give it a good length of time before you give up and head back. I'm still not convinced that Australia is good for the long term for us (I fancy Asia again) but how anyone can jack it in after 3 months is beyond me.

Quite subjective I would say. Kids are pretty much the same in both countries I would think. I have seen downright miserable little aussies having temper tantrums because of the wrong sneakers and absoulutely ebullient little muslim lads in the grim north being as excited as can be because Santa gave them a present. From a personal perspective - as is yours - I see fewer kids playing in the streets here than I do when I go back to visit my folks, I dont see kids riding their bikes up and down the road, I dont see kids skipping to school or even playing the same sorts of playground games that I see in schools I pass in UK. Aussie kids participate in more organized sport but the playgrounds for casual play are much less well patronised.

Talking with kids here (I was in education for 25 years) the vast majority are more concerned about whether they will get playstation 2 with whooziwatsit games if they go and play at a friend's house or if the friend's mum will let them watch whatever flavour of the month program is on tv. A few are "outdoors kids" but not nearly as many as you would think. Many parents that I spoke to over the years were astonished that I would suggest going for family bike rides, flying kites, walking round the lake etc. They thought that taking them to footy training or swimming lessons was doing their bit with respect to parenting and exercise!

As I said, quite subjective. Parents who have a more outdoors oriented focus themselves are more likely to encourage that in their kids and parents who do that are more likely to associate with other parents of similar interests. My own kids were outdoor kids because we didnt own a tv and boys are notoriously difficult to entertain indoors until they become teenagers! The kids on one side of me do not leave the house unless it be to go to school or the shops in the car. On another side, I actually saw them ride a bike for the first time this weekend.

What I have seen first hand are the numbers of kids with increasingly serious mental health issues in our high schools and colleges - the profile has changed considerably in the past 10 years or so with an increase in anxiety, depression, self harming behaviours, suicidal ideations and early onset psychoses. I dont know if there has been a similar increase in UK over the same period but this is a worrying trend for educationalists here. Not necessarily the signs of happy children IMHO.

Not ALL kids prefer OZ. Mine don't. They were very happy in UK.

I can't speak for parents in Britain but our kids here certainly seem to be growing up OK, despite the not always pleasant environment. We live in a not very smart part of Sydney and there are quite a few teenagers round here who already look like they are well on the way to a life of drugs, petty crime and violence. And yet at the same time there are lots of kids who are pretty normal, friendly and well adjusted.
We're lucky in that we've found a half decent school in Sydney for our kids, but that means paying school fees. Some of the state schools are appalling, although some are not bad. A lot of it depends on where you [can afford to] live. Sydney is very expensive. I guess it also depends how much effort and money you can put into raising your kids. I know a lot of the kids hanging round the back door of the local Westfield shopping centre come from homes where the parents don't speak much English and often it's just a single working mum who is working shifts or in a small business and doesn't have time to be taking her kids on family bike rides or to the art gallery.
One good thing about Australia is that it doesn't have so much of the teen drinking culture that seems to be going on in Britain. On the other hand, there's much more of a conformist and xenophobic/ethnic gang mindset here, and a lot of kids of migrants hang around in their own national groups.
But these are Sydney problems - go elsewhere and your kids can grow up in suburban torpor.

quoll I too have been very concerned about the mental health of young people in Australia but mainly males. In the last ten years we seem to be seeing more suicide among this group. I am not sure why (I have a few theories but that's all they are) but it seems to me that the problem isn't being addressed.

This is a very good post. Can I ask where abouts you are? My parents lived in Campbelltown and when we first went there it was a country town. On a recent visit it most certainly isn't that any more and your description sounds like this area.

We live in the inner west. I love places like Leichardt and Newtown. Maybe it's just me but I find places like Burwood extremely dismal and often intimidating. Some kids [and adults too] from certain ethnic groups seem to walk around with big chip on their shoulder and an almost palpable sense of rage about something - I'm not sure quite what. Why are they so unhappy? Having jumped though so many hoops to get here, I find it hard to understand how people born with automatic citizenship in this lucky country can feel so bad about it.

When we left Sydney, the response we got from pretty much everyone we knew, or didn't know, was "Why?"

Now we are leaving the UK to return to Sydney, the response we got from pretty much everyone we know, or didn't know, is "Don't blame you!"

There is a huge difference in national attitudes that pretty much sums up the social climate of each. This is a really important intangible difference that makes Australia generally an easier place to live.

Not convinced by this!!

What I do believe is that there is not as much pressure to grow up fast in Australia as there is in the UK. (Although yet again, this could be my experiences of the locations I've been in in the UK and here in Australia as opposed to a fair reflection).

I have a theory that in the UK the weather forces such an overdependence on tv that kids are exposed to adverts and programmes promoting growing older - for girls, make up, certain types of clothes etc etc - much more than in Australia.

Excellent post Wendy Thanks also for the link in your previous post referring to the link for statistics which has helped calm my nerves no end with regards to the comings and goings of the transport ASCO code in WA (this covers my OH)

Dawn

This has been a really good thread, there is a lot of honest responses from it. We moved to Perth in August 2006, it has been such a rollercoaster ride for us. We moved from Dublin and came with no family or friends living here. We have 3 children under 7 and it has been really hard work. From finding work and the ever increase to cost of living. My oh is a brickie and I work in an aged care home at the weekends. Life isn't perfect and we struggle but something is keeping us going! and just for the record we had a much better life in Ireland we didn't struggle financially our kids were happy out playing with all there friends we both had a huge circle of friends and great families. So why stay cause its our chance to do it on our own and make it work. We know we love Perth and its such a fab place to live, its very laid back. There is a lot of things we don't like.. increase in interest rates (but same in Ireland), wages are much lower than in Ireland and lack of incentive to get women back into the workforce (ie is women with children). There was one thread on here that I really agreed with... are your children happier here? I ask my little ones all the time are they happy in Oz or do they miss Ireland... they love it here. I know there 7 and 4 (2 year old obviously doesnt remember Ireland) but they remember being able to play out on the street everyday and ride there bikes with their pals... difference is here they don't have any pals on the street we live!!! But I know this will change when they are a little older and they will have there own pals to hang out with. All in all my children are happy no happier than they were at home!
So all in all my testimony would be to all who are waiting on their visa... do a lot of researching, ensure you are financially wise (we came with a 200,000 and put it all into our house)...If i were to do it all again I would rent house for 12 months (we rented a town house cost 650 per week not back garden no front garden). Put your well earned cash into a high earning interest account.
Just one other thing, the thread regarding teenage concerns, don't forget that a lot of the things you hear are not about the ozzie kids! a lot of the kids that are causing trouble in the schools are in fact kids that have moved to Oz and I don't just mean kids from England or Ireland.
So we don't know where we will be in 12 months time we hope its' Perth and we will work our butts of to make it happen for us but if it doesn't work out so be it we've tried but we ain't giving up yet.
So look forward to your dream Australia is great but don't forget different country same shit! Weather is fab! Except not when your aircon is on the blink!!!
Good luck to all you guys

Having been here 5 odd years, this is very accurate I think.

Remember that a lot of migrants do tend to congregate in areas that are not the best - although they do the business from the outset as their gloss seems to shout ''I won the lottery''.

Like you, have thought about keeping my house here in the uk as a fall back option but can't afford to do that! and secondly, the most important reason is commitment to a new life - personally i feel the family as a whole will be more likely to work harder to settle knowing we can't just go home and pick up our old life! Best of luck with your visa

oops hadn't thought of that