pinkpanther

I guess I think differently. If my kids were in the middle of their GCSE's then I would wait until they had finished. I don't think I'm the kind of person who would be happy to mess up their life by taking them out in the middle of their studies. I would feel it would be my dream to go but that it wouldn't warrant messing up their life. To me, exams are more important.

Triggster

I'm from Canada myself, been to England 4 times, but the reason I'm posting is because my best friend is from Canterbury. He moved here when he was a teenager (16) and I met him at high school. He joined our soccer team and of course, was better than most of us

Everyone loved his accent and we became really close friends really fast. We are now both 22 and its been great havin him as a friend. He didn't have any problems adjusting, infact, he was the hot ticket at the school for quite awhile. Made me a little jealous of all the girls he was getting

take care and good luck!

rae

give her a clip round the ear 'ole, tell her how all you got for christmas was a tangerine and a yo-yo, during the war everyone ate powdered eggs and if it wasn't for us they'd all be under the jackboot, never had it so good, coal mines, chimney sweeps, rant rant, neeehhh bloody kids.

Souvenir

No; I think all of those places still look for an Arts degree.

britishvixen21

I think the important thing for now is to keep her on the application and to eventually land, two years in a teenagers life is a lifetime away for them. But if you take her off the application she may never get into canada to be with you again. You cannot sponsor her and she will have to apply as a PR on her own merits and wait as long as you did.

I know she thinks she knows what she wants now, but in two years she might as someone else said get the travel bug.

Besides from a fairly youngish Brit girl. Canadian guys are way hotter here they treat women 10 times better and that accent will get her attention quicker than she can say tetley

Grah

Problem with that is those exams are useless and in 2 years they have to sit the really import ones here.

Grah

Can always Lie and say boyfriend can come and stay and that if the don't like it after 3 months they can go back and live with granny and ... .. . . ..

When they are paying the bills the get to decided.

OR you can say that it's your future as well as hers and that your sorry but as the parent you have to make the hard decisions that effect them all. Also if we all got cold feet and ran away from the life changing events none of them would exist.

Whatever happens don't mention it again until it's pack your bags your leaving time. It will save a lot of arguements and stop the defiant "I'm doing it coz you said I can't" behaviour.

TrishP

Aye and 15 of us lived in a shoebox in middle o't road .....

Souvenir

I think you'll find that the phrase: "my feet are cold; can you you warm me up?" has been responsible for quite a few pregnancies.

Fordprefect

Please don't give in. Remember being a teenager? We thought we knew it all too. How many of us wish we knew then what we know now. You are doing what you think is best for your family and from what I have heard you will all have a better life. That is why I am going now. I am sure they will adjust very quickly and I agree with Grah about not saying much about it as it will wear you down with the rows.

I am talking from experience as a mother of 7, when we moved to Cornwall (Not as far as Canada I know, but it is for a child) a few years back from Bristol my youngest daughter was at a school where bullying was rampant and the children of the school didn't do well in their GCSEs.
There were many tears, tantrums and all kinds of scenes but we stuck to our guns and after an initial stubborn, 'I hate it here and I hate you', she grew to love it and her school was near the top of the league in the country and she got 9 c and above GCSEs. The school had a zero tolerance to bullying. The village did tons of things for the kids and we hardly saw her.
Sadly we had to move back 'up country' for very sad family reasons, but that's another story. She even misses Cornwall now and is glad we went.
Sorry to be so long on this but it is important and taking comments on board about the way things are going here on board as regards Brighton etc (have been delivering all over uk and it's getting to be the same everywhere)just go for it and if you can find a quicker route even better.

woodmanbg

Difficult isnt it. Our 17 year old is quite happy to go but I feel doesnt appreciate the enormity of the move and our 19 year old is adamant she is not going and starts her second year at uni next week. I know my husband is hesitant at leaving her, breaking up the family as he refers to it, but she is 19 and she could leave home tomorrow to do her thing and we would still be here.

It is a bit doubtful at our ages (65 and 58) whether it is the right thing to be doing but unless we do it we will never know. I would rather our daughter stayed here and did her own thing than come with us reluctantly and it didnt work out and then it would be all our fault. Our kids are only on loan to us anyway and some fly the nest before others. I think the break will do her good and who knows at the end of her course she might decide that she misses us dreadfully and would rather be with us than with boyfriend and job in the UK. If not we will just have to make do with holidays and christmases.

we are fortunate that she does not have the problem of visas etc because as I am Canadian by birth we took out citizenship for them, so they hold dual nationality. So she can come over at any time if she wishes.

Frank'n Sense

Hi there,
It seems we were lucky. We came with four kids, from 12 through to 17 when we came. They were fairly keen to come all but the youngest. The hardest part was living in limbo before we could leave. Not being able to make longer term plans with their friends because we could be off at any point. They coped well with all this, though there were tears and dramas from time to time. We made sure we talked regularly about our hopes and dreams for our new life in Canada - something for them to hang onto when letting go of life in the UK.

We got them all to write diaries of their early experiences in Canada. Your children might find them something of interest. It could help you focus on their interests and concerns about the move too. Our kids are willing to email or msn others once introduced.
http://www.relocation2bc.com/teendiaries.htm

Hang on. It is worth it in the end.

Warmly,

Frank

Jerseygirl

My daughter was 11 when we moved to the US. She settled into US life immediately without any problems and loved it. Then she decided to go to uni in Toronto and loves the life there too.

My husband and I wished we had the opportunities she has had.

Alberta_Rose

I'd disagree with that. Not that I don't think exams are important, but if one is planning on coming to Canada permanently, then GCSE's are fairly worthless here, and it would be more beneficial, in my opinion, to get into the high school system here as early as possible. All the further education and employment prospects here relate to high school graduation, so as a "New Canadian" that should be a high priority.

If one is coming to Canada on a "suck it and see" basis, and not wanting to burn bridges in case they go "home", then I can see the merit in gaining UK qualifications, but IMHO it only gets harder to join the Canadian system, the longer you leave it. .

KRoss

We are moving to Canada next year, we have already landed and now both our kids have decided they are staying in Scotland. (aged 20 and almost 18 they are both now at Universities in Scotland) The oldest started at a the University of Guelph last year but didnt last long without the love of his life!)
However they have been back and forth across the Atlantic since they were tiny and know how easy it is to fly to Toronto from Scotland. So they just know they will visit when they want. I agree that probably 5 years down the line they will be off doing their own thing and we will see them when they want. So for that reason my husband and I will move ourselves. Although I am under no illusions that this will be a pain free process!!