Cowtown

Heart-breaking!

Everybody probably told you that kids were adaptable and he would settle in a few weeks after landing. Kids can struggle too and we need to be able to accept it and help them if they are struggling.

Parents should be prepared for both possibilities with their children. And not just with the older ones.

wcitizen

Regarding quality of life which would include quality of education for your kids, I think, it's not black and white: there are things here in schools that we didn't like as parents of two boys 4 and 6. One of them split calsses for JK and SK kids. It means both 4 y/o and 5 y/o go to the same class, so could be a waste of time for SK kids. At least in the school where our son was going, the security was frightening: front door wide open, 5 y/o kids asked to take attendance list to the office alone (imagine how easy it is for a paedophile to get into that school and grab a child, or prey for them in school toilets.) They didn't have enough resources (assistants, etc) while the school in London, UK had 2 full time and couple of volunteers every day.
My list can go on and on. But as I said it was our experience with THAT school. Now my elder son goes to another school, which is WAY better than the previous pone.

CalgaryBlade

We came here with two children (aged 8 and 5 at the time).

In our opinion there is no question that they have a much better quality of life in Canada. They are happier, less stressed and enjoy life more.

In the UK they went to fee-paying schools which were very academic and "straight laced", our local authority schools were not that good.

Here they go to a very friendly community school and enjoy it very much. Class sizes are around 20 and they have gym every day - a good thing IMHO.

I think you have to relax into the school system here, it's not as hyper as the UK, but guess what? kids come out of it educated and also it seems as responsible citizens (for the most part).

My wife went through the Canadian school system and is way better qualified than me even though we are of similar inteligence.

As for acivities, there seems to be too much choice. Some activities cost but some don't.

Our children play out in the street (it's a cul-de-sac) something that we would have not let them do in London.

Facilties are also so much better. If we want to go skating we can skate indoors at an olympic class facility or outdoors in the parks (a great Canadian experience).

My 9 year old daughter is in a swimming club and the facilities in Calgary are light years ahead of pre-olympic London (One facility has two 50m pools plus there's another at the Uni). She also does soccer here, something she wanted to do in the UK but found it difficult to find a club.

Added to that the skiing both inside the city and in the mountains and you can really see what a great time they are having. To be able to ski Lake Louise proficiently aged 6 like my son does is awesome.

We underestimated the moving effect on our daughter though (I do feel bad about that). We had been coming to Canada once a year since she was born and automatically thought she'd adjust straight away. In the end it took her about 6 months to settle and make friends.

Now we can't get her off the phone

Yes, in our experience/opinion it's a much better and longer childhood here. Just go easy on them in the first few months.

Scotschick

Thanks everyone for all your useful info. It's great to hear about peoples' experiences, especially when things have worked out for the best.

Thanks also for the info re carpentry work in various areas. It's certainly given us a lot to think about.