rae

As one of the main reasons for my imminent departure is not being able to say this to my 6yr old child, i'm hoping you good folks can reassure my wife in particular, that you have been able to go back to that golden age where you got on your Raleigh grifter, ate a Texan bar after watching pipkins, and then disappeared for 6 hours without anyone worrying about roads, abduction, street robbery etc.
at the very least can and do the kids play in the streets, jumpers for goal posts and all that, cheers Rae.

hudd

Rae

You do not have to leave England for that lifestyle. Moved to Norfolk , Cumbria or somewhere like Suffolk. A moved to a large urban area such as Toronto and you will get you stret crime, muggings etc. just like any Uk urban area.

britishvixen21

Small town Canada is still very much like that, my OH family live in a small town (population 2000) and that is still very much the norm, I mean if we went to suprise them theyd no we were comming down the high street before we got there cos lady at top of town would have phoned and said "your so and so's comming down the street" however if your thinknig sprawling city then the answer is no not really. I live in a pretty nice part of Toronto and i rarely see kids under 16 without their parents. But the point is that parents spend more time with their kids here and enjoy going out to play with them. Kids here tend to play in their own street but bring their hockey goals (sorry no jumpers for goal posts its hockey hockey hockey here) and sticks and play in the street, or their basketball hoops and play in the yard. with the parents all chatting in the street with them. I cant really explain it but family dynamics are very different here, and i guess you will only see that when you come yourself and intergrate.

safecell

Being in a town of 16,000 and living across the street from a playground, I see it is in use everyday. The under 4's usually have a mum watching them, the rest are playing soccer on the grass (with jumpers for posts) or football (CFL style) and then others are in the street with hockey goals. The playground is surrounded on all four sides by houses and I am sure a parent or two keeps an occasional eye on them too.
One or two of the boys set up their own launch ramp for their bikes and come winter time, again the hockey nets are there and the hill on the playground comes into use for sledding etc.

Alberta_Rose

The kids play street hockey and basketball outside our houses here, but don't think you are coming to utopia ... Canada has paedophiles too! Only a couple of weeks ago a house was broken into in sleepy Okotoks, south of Calgary, and a youth tried to abduct a 10-yr old from her bedroom!!

Last night, in downtown Calgary while we were at chorus practice, a girl came running in in a distressed state as somebody had just threatened her with a knife and robbed her.

These things can and do happen even in Canada!

Having said that, I am so pleased for our kids that we moved here. They love it, and have a much more healthy lifestyle, with much more sports and activities. In school (junior high) I was pleased to see that they had "gym" every day, and they can't wait now for the snow to come back! (I am enjoying the warm weather! )

Buchan6

We give our kids more freedom than they had back in England. Play areas and splash pads are dog sh*t free and the equipments not wrecked. If a bottle gets broken in the playarea its reported in the next issue of the local rag (honest!)

What strikes us as weird is 3/4 year old kids coming up and chatting to you.
Thats pushing it in my opinion, sometimes people here seem very innocent.
I think the neighbours look at our kids as weird as they don't do that.

Of course there's still paedo's etc, heard a case on the radio yesterday of some pest who has kidnapped a young boy a couple of weeks back and now another in the last few days and is on the run with them.

A lot of sh*t happens here as it does in life. However, the media do not seem to report on it, almost like its never happened. The news reports seem to comprise wholly of News at Ten "And finally....." type stories.

rae

hhmmmm, don't wish to appear cynical or dubious, but, and you knew they'd be one, HUUGE MORTGAGE, or living with people who all play banjo's is a distinct worry. And still got Labour government and all that goes with it.
Not so naive to realise the last point, though i understand why its made. some figures that may interest you, serious assaults listed in Edmonton up till march this year 9. In south Manchester i record more than that in one weekend. there is a difference, i could go on but i'm sure everyone is aware.

neill

Yes - but is this really really, honestly, a good 'main' reason to immigrate? I don't know. Aside, there are other hidden factors. For instance schooling, i.e. quality of teaching.....and access to convenient amenities, healthcare. and do you think the govt. is any better here? to name a few. BTW My sister lives in Norfolk and i don't think she posesses a banjo :-)

Piff Poff

I had a chopper but always wanted a grifter - more like a real motorbike, 'specially when we pegged mum's favourite playing cards to the spokes Used to be given Mums watch and told when the 2 hands were in a straight line we had to be home, stick with your little sister and don't talk to strangers. That stopped when a boy in my school met his demise at the hands of his next door but one neighbour and we moved to the country. That was a scary time for all us kids and I can't think how worried our parents would have been.

In a small market town in the UK my then 10 year old was not allowed off the street unless I knew exactly where she was going with a phone call when she got there and a phone call before she was to leave.

Living in a large town (Pop 82,572 or something like that ) The rules still apply with one big BUT, she can go further for longer and after dark(if it's not too far). There is also more for her to do nearer to our house, and just before we moved she was walking to the swimming pool with her friends - so now she can walk to the mall instead - a nightmare if she liked shopping but as she doesn't (at the moment) it's not costing us YET. We will be experimenting with public transport probably next year when she will be 12, but that is if she becomes a little more responsible herself.

What I like is when you walk past a group of teens (not a gang of youths) they move to one side and say hi! Much nicer than being sworn and spat at by a group of 12 year olds. However it does take a bit of getting used to.

The other day some kids were chucking fallen apples at each other and they were on occasion comming too close to my hubbies pride and joys (cars) one of them may look like a rusty heap at the moment - it certainly doesn't need apple shaped dents to help its looks. He loudly but politely asked them to stop throwing apples (a dangerous move in the UK) They stopped and went off on their bikes instead.

That's our experience in our land of dreams...........

Buchan6

Canada, is like I remember growing up in the 70's in Northern England............except theres no white dog sh*t !!!

We've experienced similar and also kids telling off other children for swearing !

Generally there's a better level of society here. It good to walk around and not get angry because a family of benefit scronging scroats are spending 200 quid at the till in front of you without a care in the world.

Whether thats reason enough to emigrate, I have to say no it isn't.
Also its a generalism but a lot of posters here have been critical of the educational system here. Our kids are due to start Kinder in September. We couldnt tell you when as any request for info at school has been met with "We'll post you" etc type responses. The complete opposite behaviour as was experienced when my daughter started nursery / primary in England.

Alberta_Rose

I remember telling some other 16 yr old girls off for swearing in the 70's.... I seem to remember remarking it was a sign of their limited vocabulary ...... It didn't go down too well (once they'd looked up "vocabulary" in their picture dictionaries) and the only upshot was that they swore at me mercilessly every time they saw me, called me names and made fun of the fact that I was spotty and wore glasses ..... ho hum.

Whoever said that school days are the happiest days of your life??

Buchan6

Morwenna,
Nowadays you'd get merked for that

skigordi

Our experience has been that kids here (including teenagers) are much more polite as a rule both to adults and other kids. Our kids at 12 and 9 get a lot more freedom to go places and do things and most importantly they feel a lot more confident and safe doing it. We live closer to Toronto than we did to London and without a doubt there is more safety, less vandalism(in fact none that i can think of) and many many more opportunities for the kids to get involved with organised sports etc.
Sadly I suspect it will evolve over time to the situation described in the UK but it is going to take another 15 years or so at least.
Is that worth moving for..personally I'd say yes, and certainly in my opinion outranks a big SUV, house with acreage, a well paid job etc, but it is a very personal assessment of your priorities.

Alberta_Rose

What does "merked" mean? It doesn't sound good. :scared:

Back then, for the most part I tried to ignore them, but on a school trip to France, by the time we were stranded in Dieppe trying to get home it finally got to me and I burst into tears and told them to leave me alone. A teacher noticed and asked me what was wrong, but I just said I was tired and had a bad cold, which was true.

The girls came over and asked me what I'd said to him, and I wouldn't tell them. Anyway they left me alone after that, which kinda made me wish I HAD told somebody a long time earlier (or even pretended to) and they might have stopped!!

Silly after all this time, to even think about it ..... so many years ago!

edit: Oh here we are .... merk v. 1. to kill (someone); to verbally or physically attack someone; to defeat, to overcome someone or something, to do well;

Well I think I was merked!!

rae

got to say,rightly or wrongly, its the main reason, job, house, possessions etc don't interest me, quality of life for me is having the opportunity to live well, and a big part of this is being able to relax, i can't at the moment because of the situation here with the kids which has been mentioned in others posts, and what i have said earlier. don't want my daughter to be involved.
personal experience of schools in st. Albert, lovely kids, who introduced themselves, unprompted, to my daughter and us. loads of IT equipment, modern, and looked like it worked. clean, bright. lovely staff who dropped everything in each class to speak. very impressed.
in contrast, school at present, constantly vandalised, broken into, full of litter, ran out of books!!!, yes my kid has read them all and was told to start again!, hence why i'm now buying them. one computer, which doesn't always work and is at least 5yrs old. Its only the teachers to be fair that keep it going as they are so good.
As for amenities, have to drive to everything here so won't make a difference, local health centre is much better. point taken on governments though.