Rosiesue

Nice guy kindly suggested that I should try moving this posting here in order to get more responses, so here it is..............

Hi,

Me, My Husband, 3 1/2 year old son, 10 month old daughter, are based in Waikanae.

We have been in NZ for 6 months, but have only just found this forum. We both work in IT, though my husband works part time, I work full time in Welly, with the occasional day working from home.

It is quite hard meeting other families when you are working full time and I miss the mums and tots groups.

The reason I was looking at the forums tonight is that we had made some really good friends out here. Our kids also got on great, which was fantastic as my son had been missing all his friends from the UK. But they became very homesick and flew back to the UK today.

I feel quite sad, but my son is absolutely gutted. I feel terrible that we have taken him away from all his friends and now he has made new friends and they have also gone. He has been very tearful and clingy and keeps asking to see different friends from the UK. I am finding is hard to explain to him why he cant see them.

Any suggestions for places that we can go and meet with other mums and children, to stop him missing his friends so much.

We have been doing toddler gym on a Saturday morning in Paraparaumu, which is great, but I'd like to try and find a few more activities outside of work hours.

Sorry to ramble on, but would love to hear your comments

Wiz'n'Ton

Hi guys. Really sorry to hear that your son is going through a traumatic time as, I imagine, are you. Afraid we are nowhere near you, and so a useless post in that respect. I do want to wish you all the best in getting things a little more settled and hope that your son soon finds new friends.

Much good luck karma to you, hopefully someone in the area who is on here will be able to offer a little more help!

Regards,

Wiz'n'Ton

manda69

Hi
I live in Mount Maunganui so unfortunately not near to you. We have only been in NZ for 9 weeks. I have found the same as you, it's hard to meet families when you work full-time. Has your son made any friends at nursery? My three year old goes to nursery and he has a great time there. When we first arrived he missed his grandparents so much and get asking to go back to the UK but as soon as he had a few visits to nursery and made friends there he settled. Both my husband and I work full-time. I don't go to playcentres as I am a shift worker and can't commit to the same days. Someone suggested going to Plunket coffee mornings because you just turn up and if you can't go one week then that's ok. If you have Plunket down there you could try them? How about swimming lessons for your son and you go with him, you might meet other people there. They can be in the evenings. Also we have toy libraries around here where you can volunteer to help, you could do that and meet other mums that way. Hope that helps. Good luck and nice talking to you.

poppets

ok we mentioned soccer in the other thread & mandie mentioned swimming , a nice pool is kapiti learn to swim, in otaihanga, ratanui rd ( tel 2972465) & you probbaly know that theres pools at p'pram & raumati & someone happened to mention to me the other day that the one in otaki is quite nice

i think i told you the plunkett times, but yell if i didn't as that was last night, & i've slept since then

AMBER

Hi,
We are still in the UK and am working towards coming to NZ, hopefully in Oct, but are at the mercy of NZIS.
We have two children of similar ages to yours, Joshua is 4 in June and Katrina 6.5 months.
We are planning to move to the Wellington area. I am a nurse and will be working shifts, Paul is a plasterer and when we have sorted out childcare he will be working full time. Perhaps we could keep in contact, and meet up when we are over?
Regards Amber

donnaf

Hi,
we're about 20 minutes away in Porirua. We have 3 kids aged 10, 8 and 3. You'd be more than welcome to come over one weekend day for a cuppa and a chat or if you're ever off on a Tuesday thats my day off. I've got a friend staying at the moment but she goes home at the end of next week. Send me a PM if you fancy comin over sometime and we can arrange something (might even invite Poppets too if she promises to be good!)

poppets

i've said it before.......i'm ALWAYS good .......... its the others

Biddy

Hi, Kapiti Newbies, I live in Peka Peka with three kids (all school age I'm afraid though) and we moved here 18 months ago now from Wiltshire. It must be very tough for your little boy, who Im sure cannot understand why life is so difficult. Everytime we have grandparents and lately my sister and her two girls stay from England it gets so difficult to say goodbye, even my oldest who is nearly 9 struggles with the hurt and emotions it involves. However time works wonders, and as soon as she is back at school again with the friends she has made here then all is ok again.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that things will get better as he gets older, gets to kindy more often and makes his own special friends. Waikanae has two really great mother/father and toddler groups, one next to the montessori near Elizabeth st (I think on a Thursday) and one behind waikanae school of winara av called Waikanae playcentre which is AM tue,thu and fri I think, my friend, a single mum from uk goes there and she loves it, really friendly people.I appreciate you work full time, but didn't know if hubby was around at these times, I understand they are pretty kind to fathers too. Apart from this there is a large number of clubs etc in Waik/Pram it may be a way to meet more littlies for him to get to know.

If anytime you fancy a coffee drop me a line, I work Part time at the moment, but that could change soon. The best of luck.
Sarah

Rosiesue

Thanks Poppets and Mandie we will give the soccer and swimming a try

Rosiesue

Hi Amber, that would be really nice. Do you have jobs sorted out already, or are you going to organise them once you get over here?

What area of the UK are you moving from?

Rosiesue

Hi Donnaf, That would be great. Can you also invite poppets if she promises to be bad, as it could be quite entertaining

Rosiesue

Hi Sarah

We are also from Wiltshire (small world).

Unfortunately, my husband works mornings (finishes at 1pm) so can't make any of the morning toddler groups (and they all seem to be in the morning). He's very good at keeping them entertained, he takes them to the beach; soft play; park; roller skating etc, but hasn't yet found a group that he could go to.

Thanks for the invite for coffee and the support. I am hoping to renegotiate my hours soon so that I can spend a bit more time at home with the kids, and hopefully get to some of the mother and toddler groups myself.

Rosiesue

Thanks everyone for replying. It cheered me up no end. Things are gradually getting back on an even keel. Marcus has settled down a bit (although he still misses his friends) and I feeling back to my old cheeful self again

Thanks

Rose

remoak

I'm in Waikanae... there's a reasonable amount going on here. Are you Beach or Village?

There is a mum and toddlers group that I hear good things about, based in St Michaels church I think. I'll do some ferreting and see what I can find out. Unfortunately my kids are older... 10 and 13.

Cheers,

remoak

Rosiesue

Hi Remoak,

We are in Waikanae village area.

The problem that I'm finding is that most of the things that are going on happen during the day time whilst I am at work.

I have managed to negotiate spending a couple of days a week working from home, but I still need to be around the house to answer the phone.

If there are any afternoon groups then my husband can take them, but everything we've found so far happens in the morning.

Thanks

Rosiesue