Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
Apr 13th 2014, 1:08 pm
#1
been there, done that
Thread Starter
Joined: Apr 2014
Location: Toronto
Posts: 56
Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
It's been 5+ years since we left the UK and moved to Toronto. We were expecting our second baby at the time and had a 4 yr old.
We were living in London and had good jobs and a house we just finished renovating but we felt the pressure of the big city and cost of living and needed a change.
As We were pregnant we thought the timing is right and we should have our baby on the other side of the pond and start afresh. Immigration was a non issue as my partner has dual nationalities and carries Canadian citizenship, but have never lived in Canada.
We love London dearly and feel so proud and lucky to have lived there and experience the most inspiring, exciting city in the world. Our departure was a bit of an adventure, taking the opportunity to try new life experience in a place people always refer to as the land of opportunities, safe, clean, family friendly, nice kind of place with high quality of life.
5 years on we are not too convinced. Still questioning what to do and if to go back.We recognize great things about Canada and Toronto but it's far away from being the dream life. First of all it's so boring, we can't get over the fact that the city is so ugly (aesthetic is very important to us) and what property is selling for (what you buy for your money here is shocking). The American culture is so dominant and we find it difficult to associate with the culture all together. Even TV and radio.. It's all BBC in our house.
As individuals, the people are super nice and we have made lots of lovely friends. Our kids are very happy and have tons of friends and busy social life. School is pretty good (although I am not sure it's so different to what we will have in London). They still teach too much about Canada and so little about the world.
There is a lot to be said for live here and yes, overall we are financially better off and have good things going for us but the soul is suffering and we miss home and family.
Our oldest is now 9yr and and we have 5yr old. We are in a critical point of making a decision about moving or staying. Our main reason to stay is our son who might get a shock moving to London and dealing with society. We feel kids in London are thoughter and "street wise" in a way kids in Canada are not. He is a very sociable child and already know people there ( our family and friends all live there).
Second is the cost of living and being able to afford all the things we can give our kids here.
On the other hand, we dwell all the things we can't give our kids here.. Like being exposed to all that rich experiance that London and the UK has to offer. (We have exhausted the ROM and the AGO to death..) Denying them from being close to family and our closest friends and their kids. I hear my kids speak in this heavy Canadian accent and it do feel a bit sad.
Do we really want to bring them up as Canadains? We are so torn.
On the quality of live question my answer is that we work hard here as we did back home. We both have demanding jobs and work full time. We don't see the kids as much as we thought it would be , balanced work-life situation don't happen in Toronto, I think, if you have a full time job and two kids.
Sometime it feels like we work even harder here. Less holiday as well so even if we can afford to travel neither of us have tones of time to take off.
We are scared of moving back because we don't want to disturb our kids too much and get sucked into financial squeeze, also the fact that we would need to sell and buy a bigger house in London scare us as we are well aware of the property frensie that is going on at the moment in the Capital and worried what we will be able to afford near a good school.
If anyone experiencing the same situation please let us know what your thought are. We can not decide and every morning we feel completely differently about moving back. It's a turture! We are also running out of time. If we left it another year or two it will be even harder to move back and seems very unlikely unrooting a 10,11,12 yr old. It is this summer or never!
Toronto vs London. Who wins?
We were living in London and had good jobs and a house we just finished renovating but we felt the pressure of the big city and cost of living and needed a change.
As We were pregnant we thought the timing is right and we should have our baby on the other side of the pond and start afresh. Immigration was a non issue as my partner has dual nationalities and carries Canadian citizenship, but have never lived in Canada.
We love London dearly and feel so proud and lucky to have lived there and experience the most inspiring, exciting city in the world. Our departure was a bit of an adventure, taking the opportunity to try new life experience in a place people always refer to as the land of opportunities, safe, clean, family friendly, nice kind of place with high quality of life.
5 years on we are not too convinced. Still questioning what to do and if to go back.We recognize great things about Canada and Toronto but it's far away from being the dream life. First of all it's so boring, we can't get over the fact that the city is so ugly (aesthetic is very important to us) and what property is selling for (what you buy for your money here is shocking). The American culture is so dominant and we find it difficult to associate with the culture all together. Even TV and radio.. It's all BBC in our house.
As individuals, the people are super nice and we have made lots of lovely friends. Our kids are very happy and have tons of friends and busy social life. School is pretty good (although I am not sure it's so different to what we will have in London). They still teach too much about Canada and so little about the world.
There is a lot to be said for live here and yes, overall we are financially better off and have good things going for us but the soul is suffering and we miss home and family.
Our oldest is now 9yr and and we have 5yr old. We are in a critical point of making a decision about moving or staying. Our main reason to stay is our son who might get a shock moving to London and dealing with society. We feel kids in London are thoughter and "street wise" in a way kids in Canada are not. He is a very sociable child and already know people there ( our family and friends all live there).
Second is the cost of living and being able to afford all the things we can give our kids here.
On the other hand, we dwell all the things we can't give our kids here.. Like being exposed to all that rich experiance that London and the UK has to offer. (We have exhausted the ROM and the AGO to death..) Denying them from being close to family and our closest friends and their kids. I hear my kids speak in this heavy Canadian accent and it do feel a bit sad.
Do we really want to bring them up as Canadains? We are so torn.
On the quality of live question my answer is that we work hard here as we did back home. We both have demanding jobs and work full time. We don't see the kids as much as we thought it would be , balanced work-life situation don't happen in Toronto, I think, if you have a full time job and two kids.
Sometime it feels like we work even harder here. Less holiday as well so even if we can afford to travel neither of us have tones of time to take off.
We are scared of moving back because we don't want to disturb our kids too much and get sucked into financial squeeze, also the fact that we would need to sell and buy a bigger house in London scare us as we are well aware of the property frensie that is going on at the moment in the Capital and worried what we will be able to afford near a good school.
If anyone experiencing the same situation please let us know what your thought are. We can not decide and every morning we feel completely differently about moving back. It's a turture! We are also running out of time. If we left it another year or two it will be even harder to move back and seems very unlikely unrooting a 10,11,12 yr old. It is this summer or never!
Toronto vs London. Who wins?
Apr 13th 2014, 1:33 pm
#2
limey party pooper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 9,982
Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
I was just back for a vacation and for the first time didn't like being in London. I'm a country bumpkin now and I reckon I saw more people in a day than I have seen in a year. Could you put up with travelling on the tube, with so many people?
Apr 13th 2014, 1:41 pm
#3
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 466
Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
It's been 5+ years since we left the UK and moved to Toronto. We were expecting our second baby at the time and had a 4 yr old.
We were living in London and had good jobs and a house we just finished renovating but we felt the pressure of the big city and cost of living and needed a change.
As We were pregnant we thought the timing is right and we should have our baby on the other side of the pond and start afresh. Immigration was a non issue as my partner has dual nationalities and carries Canadian citizenship, but have never lived in Canada.
We love London dearly and feel so proud and lucky to have lived there and experience the most inspiring, exciting city in the world. Our departure was a bit of an adventure, taking the opportunity to try new life experience in a place people always refer to as the land of opportunities, safe, clean, family friendly, nice kind of place with high quality of life.
5 years on we are not too convinced. Still questioning what to do and if to go back.We recognize great things about Canada and Toronto but it's far away from being the dream life. First of all it's so boring, we can't get over the fact that the city is so ugly (aesthetic is very important to us) and what property is selling for (what you buy for your money here is shocking). The American culture is so dominant and we find it difficult to associate with the culture all together. Even TV and radio.. It's all BBC in our house.
As individuals, the people are super nice and we have made lots of lovely friends. Our kids are very happy and have tons of friends and busy social life. School is pretty good (although I am not sure it's so different to what we will have in London). They still teach too much about Canada and so little about the world.
There is a lot to be said for live here and yes, overall we are financially better off and have good things going for us but the soul is suffering and we miss home and family.
Our oldest is now 9yr and and we have 5yr old. We are in a critical point of making a decision about moving or staying. Our main reason to stay is our son who might get a shock moving to London and dealing with society. We feel kids in London are thoughter and "street wise" in a way kids in Canada are not. He is a very sociable child and already know people there ( our family and friends all live there).
Second is the cost of living and being able to afford all the things we can give our kids here.
On the other hand, we dwell all the things we can't give our kids here.. Like being exposed to all that rich experiance that London and the UK has to offer. (We have exhausted the ROM and the AGO to death..) Denying them from being close to family and our closest friends and their kids. I hear my kids speak in this heavy Canadian accent and it do feel a bit sad.
Do we really want to bring them up as Canadains? We are so torn.
On the quality of live question my answer is that we work hard here as we did back home. We both have demanding jobs and work full time. We don't see the kids as much as we thought it would be , balanced work-life situation don't happen in Toronto, I think, if you have a full time job and two kids.
Sometime it feels like we work even harder here. Less holiday as well so even if we can afford to travel neither of us have tones of time to take off.
We are scared of moving back because we don't want to disturb our kids too much and get sucked into financial squeeze, also the fact that we would need to sell and buy a bigger house in London scare us as we are well aware of the property frensie that is going on at the moment in the Capital and worried what we will be able to afford near a good school.
If anyone experiencing the same situation please let us know what your thought are. We can not decide and every morning we feel completely differently about moving back. It's a turture! We are also running out of time. If we left it another year or two it will be even harder to move back and seems very unlikely unrooting a 10,11,12 yr old. It is this summer or never!
Toronto vs London. Who wins?
We were living in London and had good jobs and a house we just finished renovating but we felt the pressure of the big city and cost of living and needed a change.
As We were pregnant we thought the timing is right and we should have our baby on the other side of the pond and start afresh. Immigration was a non issue as my partner has dual nationalities and carries Canadian citizenship, but have never lived in Canada.
We love London dearly and feel so proud and lucky to have lived there and experience the most inspiring, exciting city in the world. Our departure was a bit of an adventure, taking the opportunity to try new life experience in a place people always refer to as the land of opportunities, safe, clean, family friendly, nice kind of place with high quality of life.
5 years on we are not too convinced. Still questioning what to do and if to go back.We recognize great things about Canada and Toronto but it's far away from being the dream life. First of all it's so boring, we can't get over the fact that the city is so ugly (aesthetic is very important to us) and what property is selling for (what you buy for your money here is shocking). The American culture is so dominant and we find it difficult to associate with the culture all together. Even TV and radio.. It's all BBC in our house.
As individuals, the people are super nice and we have made lots of lovely friends. Our kids are very happy and have tons of friends and busy social life. School is pretty good (although I am not sure it's so different to what we will have in London). They still teach too much about Canada and so little about the world.
There is a lot to be said for live here and yes, overall we are financially better off and have good things going for us but the soul is suffering and we miss home and family.
Our oldest is now 9yr and and we have 5yr old. We are in a critical point of making a decision about moving or staying. Our main reason to stay is our son who might get a shock moving to London and dealing with society. We feel kids in London are thoughter and "street wise" in a way kids in Canada are not. He is a very sociable child and already know people there ( our family and friends all live there).
Second is the cost of living and being able to afford all the things we can give our kids here.
On the other hand, we dwell all the things we can't give our kids here.. Like being exposed to all that rich experiance that London and the UK has to offer. (We have exhausted the ROM and the AGO to death..) Denying them from being close to family and our closest friends and their kids. I hear my kids speak in this heavy Canadian accent and it do feel a bit sad.
Do we really want to bring them up as Canadains? We are so torn.
On the quality of live question my answer is that we work hard here as we did back home. We both have demanding jobs and work full time. We don't see the kids as much as we thought it would be , balanced work-life situation don't happen in Toronto, I think, if you have a full time job and two kids.
Sometime it feels like we work even harder here. Less holiday as well so even if we can afford to travel neither of us have tones of time to take off.
We are scared of moving back because we don't want to disturb our kids too much and get sucked into financial squeeze, also the fact that we would need to sell and buy a bigger house in London scare us as we are well aware of the property frensie that is going on at the moment in the Capital and worried what we will be able to afford near a good school.
If anyone experiencing the same situation please let us know what your thought are. We can not decide and every morning we feel completely differently about moving back. It's a turture! We are also running out of time. If we left it another year or two it will be even harder to move back and seems very unlikely unrooting a 10,11,12 yr old. It is this summer or never!
Toronto vs London. Who wins?
It sounds like your choices are a) to go home and he happy, or b) endure it long enough here until you get used to it.
Apr 13th 2014, 2:20 pm
#4
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Sep 2013
Location: SW Ontario, Canada
Posts: 6,960
Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
It's been 5+ years since we left the UK and moved to Toronto. We were expecting our second baby at the time and had a 4 yr old.
We were living in London and had good jobs and a house we just finished renovating but we felt the pressure of the big city and cost of living and needed a change.
As We were pregnant we thought the timing is right and we should have our baby on the other side of the pond and start afresh. Immigration was a non issue as my partner has dual nationalities and carries Canadian citizenship, but have never lived in Canada.
We love London dearly and feel so proud and lucky to have lived there and experience the most inspiring, exciting city in the world. Our departure was a bit of an adventure, taking the opportunity to try new life experience in a place people always refer to as the land of opportunities, safe, clean, family friendly, nice kind of place with high quality of life.
5 years on we are not too convinced. Still questioning what to do and if to go back.We recognize great things about Canada and Toronto but it's far away from being the dream life. First of all it's so boring, we can't get over the fact that the city is so ugly (aesthetic is very important to us) and what property is selling for (what you buy for your money here is shocking). The American culture is so dominant and we find it difficult to associate with the culture all together. Even TV and radio.. It's all BBC in our house.
As individuals, the people are super nice and we have made lots of lovely friends. Our kids are very happy and have tons of friends and busy social life. School is pretty good (although I am not sure it's so different to what we will have in London). They still teach too much about Canada and so little about the world.
There is a lot to be said for live here and yes, overall we are financially better off and have good things going for us but the soul is suffering and we miss home and family.
Our oldest is now 9yr and and we have 5yr old. We are in a critical point of making a decision about moving or staying. Our main reason to stay is our son who might get a shock moving to London and dealing with society. We feel kids in London are thoughter and "street wise" in a way kids in Canada are not. He is a very sociable child and already know people there ( our family and friends all live there).
Second is the cost of living and being able to afford all the things we can give our kids here.
On the other hand, we dwell all the things we can't give our kids here.. Like being exposed to all that rich experiance that London and the UK has to offer. (We have exhausted the ROM and the AGO to death..) Denying them from being close to family and our closest friends and their kids. I hear my kids speak in this heavy Canadian accent and it do feel a bit sad.
Do we really want to bring them up as Canadains? We are so torn.
On the quality of live question my answer is that we work hard here as we did back home. We both have demanding jobs and work full time. We don't see the kids as much as we thought it would be , balanced work-life situation don't happen in Toronto, I think, if you have a full time job and two kids.
Sometime it feels like we work even harder here. Less holiday as well so even if we can afford to travel neither of us have tones of time to take off.
We are scared of moving back because we don't want to disturb our kids too much and get sucked into financial squeeze, also the fact that we would need to sell and buy a bigger house in London scare us as we are well aware of the property frensie that is going on at the moment in the Capital and worried what we will be able to afford near a good school.
If anyone experiencing the same situation please let us know what your thought are. We can not decide and every morning we feel completely differently about moving back. It's a turture! We are also running out of time. If we left it another year or two it will be even harder to move back and seems very unlikely unrooting a 10,11,12 yr old. It is this summer or never!
Toronto vs London. Who wins?
We were living in London and had good jobs and a house we just finished renovating but we felt the pressure of the big city and cost of living and needed a change.
As We were pregnant we thought the timing is right and we should have our baby on the other side of the pond and start afresh. Immigration was a non issue as my partner has dual nationalities and carries Canadian citizenship, but have never lived in Canada.
We love London dearly and feel so proud and lucky to have lived there and experience the most inspiring, exciting city in the world. Our departure was a bit of an adventure, taking the opportunity to try new life experience in a place people always refer to as the land of opportunities, safe, clean, family friendly, nice kind of place with high quality of life.
5 years on we are not too convinced. Still questioning what to do and if to go back.We recognize great things about Canada and Toronto but it's far away from being the dream life. First of all it's so boring, we can't get over the fact that the city is so ugly (aesthetic is very important to us) and what property is selling for (what you buy for your money here is shocking). The American culture is so dominant and we find it difficult to associate with the culture all together. Even TV and radio.. It's all BBC in our house.
As individuals, the people are super nice and we have made lots of lovely friends. Our kids are very happy and have tons of friends and busy social life. School is pretty good (although I am not sure it's so different to what we will have in London). They still teach too much about Canada and so little about the world.
There is a lot to be said for live here and yes, overall we are financially better off and have good things going for us but the soul is suffering and we miss home and family.
Our oldest is now 9yr and and we have 5yr old. We are in a critical point of making a decision about moving or staying. Our main reason to stay is our son who might get a shock moving to London and dealing with society. We feel kids in London are thoughter and "street wise" in a way kids in Canada are not. He is a very sociable child and already know people there ( our family and friends all live there).
Second is the cost of living and being able to afford all the things we can give our kids here.
On the other hand, we dwell all the things we can't give our kids here.. Like being exposed to all that rich experiance that London and the UK has to offer. (We have exhausted the ROM and the AGO to death..) Denying them from being close to family and our closest friends and their kids. I hear my kids speak in this heavy Canadian accent and it do feel a bit sad.
Do we really want to bring them up as Canadains? We are so torn.
On the quality of live question my answer is that we work hard here as we did back home. We both have demanding jobs and work full time. We don't see the kids as much as we thought it would be , balanced work-life situation don't happen in Toronto, I think, if you have a full time job and two kids.
Sometime it feels like we work even harder here. Less holiday as well so even if we can afford to travel neither of us have tones of time to take off.
We are scared of moving back because we don't want to disturb our kids too much and get sucked into financial squeeze, also the fact that we would need to sell and buy a bigger house in London scare us as we are well aware of the property frensie that is going on at the moment in the Capital and worried what we will be able to afford near a good school.
If anyone experiencing the same situation please let us know what your thought are. We can not decide and every morning we feel completely differently about moving back. It's a turture! We are also running out of time. If we left it another year or two it will be even harder to move back and seems very unlikely unrooting a 10,11,12 yr old. It is this summer or never!
Toronto vs London. Who wins?
I think you need to go where you will be happy. Life is short. If you don't like Canada, leave. You will regret not leaving later if you aren't happy here... If you're not sure, take a trip home if you can afford to do so. Even if only for a week. If you get back and feel like "Oh I'm so glad we left the UK" - you'll be glad you did it. If you burst into tears on the plane back to Canada because you know you need to go home - well there's your answer too...
Good luck
Apr 13th 2014, 3:27 pm
#5
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Sep 2010
Location: Maryland (via Belfast, Manchester, Toronto and London)
Posts: 4,802
Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
As you've already been in Toronto 5+ years, there's no point in waiting to see if things improve. You've given it long enough. So go home if you ever want to get these thoughts out of your system.
We moved to London with 2 small kids after 7 years in Toronto. It was great being able to visit friends and family and being close to the rest of Europe. Eventually we decided (for various different reasons) that the UK just wasn't where we wanted to raise our kids. We lasted 2 years in London before we moved to the US where I accepted a job offer. We are much better off financially in the US and there was no way we could afford a house to London where we wanted to live anyway.
So go home and see if it's better for you. It might be but it might not be. You'll constantly be wondering unless you try. The older the kids get, the harder it will be to make the move.
We moved to London with 2 small kids after 7 years in Toronto. It was great being able to visit friends and family and being close to the rest of Europe. Eventually we decided (for various different reasons) that the UK just wasn't where we wanted to raise our kids. We lasted 2 years in London before we moved to the US where I accepted a job offer. We are much better off financially in the US and there was no way we could afford a house to London where we wanted to live anyway.
So go home and see if it's better for you. It might be but it might not be. You'll constantly be wondering unless you try. The older the kids get, the harder it will be to make the move.
Apr 13th 2014, 4:34 pm
#6
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Dec 2011
Location: Back in Scotland after 4 years in Calgary
Posts: 1,403
Apr 13th 2014, 5:07 pm
#7
Dive Bar Drunk
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Toronto
Posts: 8,649
Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
It's been 5+ years since we left the UK and moved to Toronto. We were expecting our second baby at the time and had a 4 yr old.
We were living in London and had good jobs and a house we just finished renovating but we felt the pressure of the big city and cost of living and needed a change.
As We were pregnant we thought the timing is right and we should have our baby on the other side of the pond and start afresh. Immigration was a non issue as my partner has dual nationalities and carries Canadian citizenship, but have never lived in Canada.
We love London dearly and feel so proud and lucky to have lived there and experience the most inspiring, exciting city in the world. Our departure was a bit of an adventure, taking the opportunity to try new life experience in a place people always refer to as the land of opportunities, safe, clean, family friendly, nice kind of place with high quality of life.
5 years on we are not too convinced. Still questioning what to do and if to go back.We recognize great things about Canada and Toronto but it's far away from being the dream life. First of all it's so boring, we can't get over the fact that the city is so ugly (aesthetic is very important to us) and what property is selling for (what you buy for your money here is shocking). The American culture is so dominant and we find it difficult to associate with the culture all together. Even TV and radio.. It's all BBC in our house.
As individuals, the people are super nice and we have made lots of lovely friends. Our kids are very happy and have tons of friends and busy social life. School is pretty good (although I am not sure it's so different to what we will have in London). They still teach too much about Canada and so little about the world.
There is a lot to be said for live here and yes, overall we are financially better off and have good things going for us but the soul is suffering and we miss home and family.
Our oldest is now 9yr and and we have 5yr old. We are in a critical point of making a decision about moving or staying. Our main reason to stay is our son who might get a shock moving to London and dealing with society. We feel kids in London are thoughter and "street wise" in a way kids in Canada are not. He is a very sociable child and already know people there ( our family and friends all live there).
Second is the cost of living and being able to afford all the things we can give our kids here.
On the other hand, we dwell all the things we can't give our kids here.. Like being exposed to all that rich experiance that London and the UK has to offer. (We have exhausted the ROM and the AGO to death..) Denying them from being close to family and our closest friends and their kids. I hear my kids speak in this heavy Canadian accent and it do feel a bit sad.
Do we really want to bring them up as Canadains? We are so torn.
On the quality of live question my answer is that we work hard here as we did back home. We both have demanding jobs and work full time. We don't see the kids as much as we thought it would be , balanced work-life situation don't happen in Toronto, I think, if you have a full time job and two kids.
Sometime it feels like we work even harder here. Less holiday as well so even if we can afford to travel neither of us have tones of time to take off.
We are scared of moving back because we don't want to disturb our kids too much and get sucked into financial squeeze, also the fact that we would need to sell and buy a bigger house in London scare us as we are well aware of the property frensie that is going on at the moment in the Capital and worried what we will be able to afford near a good school.
If anyone experiencing the same situation please let us know what your thought are. We can not decide and every morning we feel completely differently about moving back. It's a turture! We are also running out of time. If we left it another year or two it will be even harder to move back and seems very unlikely unrooting a 10,11,12 yr old. It is this summer or never!
Toronto vs London. Who wins?
We were living in London and had good jobs and a house we just finished renovating but we felt the pressure of the big city and cost of living and needed a change.
As We were pregnant we thought the timing is right and we should have our baby on the other side of the pond and start afresh. Immigration was a non issue as my partner has dual nationalities and carries Canadian citizenship, but have never lived in Canada.
We love London dearly and feel so proud and lucky to have lived there and experience the most inspiring, exciting city in the world. Our departure was a bit of an adventure, taking the opportunity to try new life experience in a place people always refer to as the land of opportunities, safe, clean, family friendly, nice kind of place with high quality of life.
5 years on we are not too convinced. Still questioning what to do and if to go back.We recognize great things about Canada and Toronto but it's far away from being the dream life. First of all it's so boring, we can't get over the fact that the city is so ugly (aesthetic is very important to us) and what property is selling for (what you buy for your money here is shocking). The American culture is so dominant and we find it difficult to associate with the culture all together. Even TV and radio.. It's all BBC in our house.
As individuals, the people are super nice and we have made lots of lovely friends. Our kids are very happy and have tons of friends and busy social life. School is pretty good (although I am not sure it's so different to what we will have in London). They still teach too much about Canada and so little about the world.
There is a lot to be said for live here and yes, overall we are financially better off and have good things going for us but the soul is suffering and we miss home and family.
Our oldest is now 9yr and and we have 5yr old. We are in a critical point of making a decision about moving or staying. Our main reason to stay is our son who might get a shock moving to London and dealing with society. We feel kids in London are thoughter and "street wise" in a way kids in Canada are not. He is a very sociable child and already know people there ( our family and friends all live there).
Second is the cost of living and being able to afford all the things we can give our kids here.
On the other hand, we dwell all the things we can't give our kids here.. Like being exposed to all that rich experiance that London and the UK has to offer. (We have exhausted the ROM and the AGO to death..) Denying them from being close to family and our closest friends and their kids. I hear my kids speak in this heavy Canadian accent and it do feel a bit sad.
Do we really want to bring them up as Canadains? We are so torn.
On the quality of live question my answer is that we work hard here as we did back home. We both have demanding jobs and work full time. We don't see the kids as much as we thought it would be , balanced work-life situation don't happen in Toronto, I think, if you have a full time job and two kids.
Sometime it feels like we work even harder here. Less holiday as well so even if we can afford to travel neither of us have tones of time to take off.
We are scared of moving back because we don't want to disturb our kids too much and get sucked into financial squeeze, also the fact that we would need to sell and buy a bigger house in London scare us as we are well aware of the property frensie that is going on at the moment in the Capital and worried what we will be able to afford near a good school.
If anyone experiencing the same situation please let us know what your thought are. We can not decide and every morning we feel completely differently about moving back. It's a turture! We are also running out of time. If we left it another year or two it will be even harder to move back and seems very unlikely unrooting a 10,11,12 yr old. It is this summer or never!
Toronto vs London. Who wins?
That being said it is a good point to move the kids back as they are young enough to assimilate fairly quickly. They'll also probably loose the accents within a couple of years.
Apr 13th 2014, 5:17 pm
#8
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Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
Property prices in London are among the highest in the world and you think Toronto is bad?
They still teach too much about Canada and so little about the world.
Apr 13th 2014, 5:34 pm
#9
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Joined: Dec 2013
Location: Regina
Posts: 278
Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
Where about in London do originally come from ?
A good fact for you to consider, my old family house that I grew up in in East London (Edwardian 4 bed semi ) is now worth 750 k
5 years is a long time to be away, you might find a lot has changed.
Good luck anyway
A good fact for you to consider, my old family house that I grew up in in East London (Edwardian 4 bed semi ) is now worth 750 k
5 years is a long time to be away, you might find a lot has changed.
Good luck anyway
Apr 13th 2014, 5:58 pm
#10
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 3,363
Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
I hate to burst your bubble but many from the UK have not travelled much outside the UK other than Orlando, Benidorm and the like. Many relatives of mine in the UK with the financial means have travelled little outside their comfort zone.
Apr 13th 2014, 6:02 pm
#11
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Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
Apr 13th 2014, 6:27 pm
#12
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Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
Interesting... The brits i know have been to spain, greece, italy, etc and a bunch of other places before they moved to canada!
Apr 13th 2014, 6:29 pm
#13
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Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
!
Apr 13th 2014, 6:35 pm
#14
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Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
I'll third that 
School systems in every country in the world usually don't go further than teaching about the motherland and its immediate sphere of influence.
While at work, I was complaining about the excessive cost of Ibuprofen in Canada the other day. $5+tax for 16 tablets. In the UK it would cost just 30p. A highly educated colleague remarked that, outside of North America, most medicines are fakes. He was not joking.
School systems in every country in the world usually don't go further than teaching about the motherland and its immediate sphere of influence.
While at work, I was complaining about the excessive cost of Ibuprofen in Canada the other day. $5+tax for 16 tablets. In the UK it would cost just 30p. A highly educated colleague remarked that, outside of North America, most medicines are fakes. He was not joking.
Apr 13th 2014, 6:44 pm
#15
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Joined: Dec 2013
Location: Regina
Posts: 278
Re: Toronto or going back to London after 5 yrs, so confused!
Yeah they should teach about Canada but they need to educate kids on the countries in the world besides Canada and the US, if only so they dont look so dumb when questioned about other countries! Seriously. Most wouldnt be able to point Europe on the globe, let alone a specific country like the UK or Ireland !
!