Kaye5

I've taken this thought from another thread, where the poster asked how can your children be better off in Canada, if you cannot afford their amusements and college fees.

We will be slightly worse off financially in Canada, at least initially - we will be in the "getting by" category, rather than the "financially ruined" category. We will not be able to afford everything our children want, and setting up a college fund will be difficult (ie we may be able to fund college only partially).

This is actually the same situation as we have in the UK, but nevertheless...

We are not particularly materialistic, but know that children can be!

...is there anyone in a similar position who feels their children are still better off in Canada?

Would be interesting to hear children's thoughts, as well as parents'.

Oink

All depends on your personal circumstances in both the UK and Canada. But using the 'kids will be better off' rationale because you're bored with the mundanity of your life is a pretty poor reason to emigrate. So, based on that, I'd say they'd be better off in the UK.

el_richo

Not having kids myself, i'm just guessing here........

I think kids, with the right parenting, do equally well in either country and will be equally better off. They'll have different opportunities for sure but none any worse than the other.

That said, psychologically, i think the parents may be better off cos they'll now think their kids are safer, better educated, last longer as kids, have great opportunities, and moreover have a better life.

In reality, i think the kids don't really come into it. It's all about the parents.

Just my opinion of course.

*Assumptions based on "middle class" living in both countries.

Strawberry

So very true, I wonder how many people use that rationale, I know I do from time to time, even though my kids are perfectly happy here in the UK. Perhaps its just that we worry about the future for the kids whereas kids "live for the moment".

el_richo

Yep. No doubt our parents had the same thoughts for our futures but we all turned out relatively fine in most cases, i would assume, while being brought up in the UK (for those of us who were).

Had the media access and business model been the same back then as it is now, maybe things could have been different.

rubberduckofdeath

Let's be honest, the UK is not a bad place to live. It's just that we feel that Canada offers more of what we want and less of what we don't.

el_richo

Out of curiosity......what do you feel it offers more and less of, with regards to kids or even yourself, that the UK doesn't?

And in the context of the original question, are the offerings so beneficial that it's worth financially limiting, and some cases stepping backwards by a few years?


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rubberduckofdeath

Sure

FYI, I'm 28, my fiancee's 25.

I like to snowboard and the like, so being out there is better for me. I like wide open spaces and don't like being close to stacks of people and less traffic. I like sunshine and am not fussed by being cold (would rather be cold than hot!). I love the outside world and enjoy exploring, walking the dog, wandering around with the fiancee. My fiancee's a horse nut and where we're hoping to go to is quite "horsey". I could continue!

BTW, I'm hoping to move to the Calgary area.

rubberduckofdeath

Already replied by the time you'd amended

You have to keep in mind with my reasons (and other people's), that at "our" age this isn't just a financial consideration and it shouldn't be. At "our" age, a sense of adventure and a desire to do something dangerous and exciting is reason enough.

You can always go home

In answer, yes, I genuinely believe it's worth risking the money. In the UK, I earn about £60-70k a year in IT. I'll earn far less than that in Canada but I'm hoping to not stay in the industry long term, anyway.

el_richo

Fairy snuff. Adventure is always great, although you can achieve this during many vacations. As for the other reasons, these are all readily available in the UK other than snowboarding would probably be done indoors due to accessibility and the weather.

I'll be walking away from a six figure income when we move permanently this year but if it wasn't for the influence of my Canadian wife, i'd probably not see any advantages of doing so........the selfish shrew.

So, with the reasons also available in the UK, and adventure aside, over the longer term with regards to kids and parents, what does Canada have/haven't that the UK doesn't/does? And is it significant enough to take potentially take a huge financial hit to obtain it?

I'm not picking fault with anybodies reasons, i'm just curious to hear them.

It's all very subjective though i guess.


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Bucks_Family

As el_richo says, it's all subjective - I earn half of what you do in IT, but if I take IT job over there I'd hope to earn about the same there as I do here (clearly underpaid here), so for us, there would be little in the way of a "backwards" step financially. For us (in our mid 30s with a young child) the financial benefits of moving are a moot point, as there probably won't be many. We want a new challenge and to grasp new opportunities, and it's the right time for us before our daughter gets settled in the school system in the UK.

rubberduckofdeath

Sounds good - only you know what's right for you guys

Kaye5

Why do you say they will be better off in the UK if boredom is our reason for emigrating (not sure how you come to that conclusion...I suppose it may be one reason, but it is only one of many)? What do you feel the UK offers for kids that Canada doesn't?

We aren't really worried by the financial side as we have the budget for the move - we aren't really taking much of a step backwards as my husband retrained only a year ago and I am in a job which has no career structure. There actually seems to be a better career structure for what I do in Canada, but that is looking a few years ahead.

It seems a lot of us will not have financial gain by moving, but are going nevertheless.

What I'm looking for is what the kids who have moved love and hate about Canada, and any effects that their family having less money (than it did in the UK) has had on them - and if they feel the positives are enough to outweigh the negatives due to their financial position.

dbd33

That sounds like me. I write from what I consider to be an informed position in having had some children in Canada. Mine may have been atypical but I found them to be rather an expensive indulgence. Even, I might note, by comparison with the famously expensive business of keeping horses. Apart from the standard running costs, things that would apply in any country, having them in Canada entails a considerable expense in flying them home every summer; not to do so is to risk their assimilation as well as estrangement from their family in Europe. The extent to which they have had better lives than their cousins in the UK is, I think, a simple consequence of their being more money in the household in Canada.

I don't see how moving to Canada without there being more money could be advantageous for children so I wonder what intangible benefit people think may compensate for raising them in a foreign country far from their relatives.

iaink

We would probably be better off financially in the UK, for two reasons:
A: By necessity both my wife and I would be working
B: By necessity we would probably be in a smaller starter home


But being in Canada makes it possible for us to make ends meet on my income alone, which means my wife can stay home with the kids at least during their early years, and we both think this definitely means the kids are better off. Its a personal choice though I guess.

We also feel that life where we are is less pressured, kids get to be kids for longer, and we wont really have to worry too much about where they are and what they are up too, at least for a while.