Originally Posted by mark.lowe

hi i am in the same boat with our 13 year old boy just give it your best shot you only get one go at it

Originally Posted by Wendy

Your 15 year old sounds like mine (only mine was like that ALL the time ) He used to really hate school, didn't want to do any school work and was always distrupting the class and getting in trouble.

He really didn't want to come to Australia either - he said he couldn't speak Australian and didn't want to live in a mud hut

All we did was say to him that until he was 18 he had to do what we said and that meant coming here with us. We said that when he was 18 we would pay for his flight back to the UK if that's what he still wanted. He wouldn't go back now though, he wants to go back for a few months to visit people, but has said he much prefers it here.

My other son, who is now 20 is still in the UK attending Uni. He didn't want to come so stayed there. He is now regretting his decision but because he is half way through his degree has said he will come out when he has finished as he doesn't want to put all his hard work to waste. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he does still want to come when he's finished.

Welcome to the world of having kids that don't always want the same things we do I hope you manage to presuade them to give it a go.

Originally Posted by gwen mccormick

Hi there i know how you feel. We started our immigration process 2 1/2 years ago and our daughter aged 17 and son were keen to go. Now we have our visa and went to oz in october to validate it. Daughter is 20 and son is 16. Daughter has just announced her engagement and is getting married in December and son doesnt want to go. We really want to go for 7 months and return in december for the wedding but im afraid my son will decided not to get on the plane at the last minute. We have also told him that he can return when he is 18 but he wants to stay at home and get his driving licence. What can we do

Originally Posted by Timber Floor Au

Wish you the best of luck, and if you want I can SCAN and post on here a letter my 15 yr old ( 15 in a few days time ) did for homework last night !!

May open your sons eyes a bit

Title set by teacher: Tell me about you and your family in 300-900 words.

I was very proud, albeit his writing is deplorable.

Ste

Originally Posted by srd

Hi, we moved to here last september, i have 3 children, 2 boys who are 20 and 18 and 17 yr old daughter. we have lived here before but for many reasons had to return to uk. we always told the children our intention of returning, although it took longer than we had planned. none of them were keen and the older two said all along they did not want to come. we thought that they were bluffing. we bought tickets for all of us, we all came, but the boys went back after 13 days, they hated it - as a parent i know they did not try and give it time, but they just said they wanted to be in uk with their friends, my daughter is still here but extremely unhappy despite our best efforts of buying a nice house, getting a puppy and encouraging her in every way we can. we thought the boys would get back to uk and want to be back here with us as we were firm in the fact that we would not follow them back. this resulted with them not talking to us for 5 months, the younger one of them has now had one telephone conversation with us and sent us one text. the older one has told us he never wants to see or speak to us again as we have split the family up and not cared about their views.

my OH and i firmly believed they would 'come round' once here. instead our family is torn apart, my daughter is unhappy and i feel sad that we are not together.

in my opinion its hard to be a teenager and move here, some manage really well and thats great but others do struggle. i wish my family was together and if i knew the heartache that we have had in the last 6 months i would not have firmly encouraged the move. i wish you all the very best, srd.

Originally Posted by Timber Floor Au

K listen.

Heres his very very rough draft. of his introductory letter to his new teacher at school, for the start of the school term.

English is like a second language !! lol

But I am sure you get the POSITIVE attitude ! Well I do, but then I am his Dad, hahaha
He has done a proper version but this has been handed into the teacher, with more emphasis on eating fruit and vegetables, less on his beloved girlfriend , computer and online friends... and more on extra curicular activities, not involving female saliva !

Ive zipped the file. Enjoy

Originally Posted by Nu-Shooz

I would'nt force anyone to emigrate. It's not for everyone and teenagers are the worst to bring over.
My daughter didn't want to come either (16)..we told her that if she didn't settle she could go back to the UK....so she did.

Originally Posted by Its all happening now

When did you emmigrate?We emigrated nearly 2 years ago.
How long did she stay in Australia for?She stayed with us in OZ for 18 months.
Did she go to schoo; there and make any friends ?Yes she went to school and college here. Made many friends, but missed her friends in UK more.
How long has she been away?She left us last Oct.
Do you have any other kids that have stayed?I have 2 boys, 8 ans 12.
Do you still keep in touch with her, do you think she will come back over to Oz?We speak all the time on phone and MSN, no chance of her coming back.
Did she say what was most difficult about it ?She just missed her friends, family, boyfriend, life-style, hobbies, school, clothes lol.
Sorry for all the questions I'm just trying to find out as much as possible to help with our decision?
Thanks
Jo

Originally Posted by Its all happening now

What helped your son to settle in Oz,how did he make friends?
Jo

Originally Posted by Wendy

I think the main thing for him is that for the first time in all his school life he just fits in (he was always bullied in the UK because of his excema, which has now gone!)

Originally Posted by spartacus

Isn't that what we all want for our kids . . . just to fit in.

Originally Posted by spartacus

Bless him.

Originally Posted by Wendy

He's a little (well huge actually ) bugger though. He has got a bit of an 'attitude' so probably didn't try to make things easier for himself.

Anyhoo, he's really happy and settled here so that's the main thing.

Originally Posted by spartacus

Got one just the same (just 11). Started a new school this week, boys grammar, and didn't really want to go (or should that be really didn't want to go). Uniform 'gay'; all boys, plenty of mates 'gay'; loads of sport 'shrug shoulders'.

Came home yesterday like a dog with two tails. Loves it. Uniform 'actually you were right dad its quite smart'; 'loads of new mates'; 'trying out for the swim team'.

So big thumbs up, schools sorted, long may it continue.

Puberties just around the corner though so it can all turn to crap soon enough.

'Dad . . . I think I'm getting hairs on me willy' was a little unexpected last night.