charliedarling

Thanks everyone - I appreciate the help, will have to prep my husband now! (so glad its not me that has to do it - i hate talking on the phone to people i dont know)


Am Loolah - where and when are you planning to go? We hope to travel around in a camper van for at least a month first before we decide, but are swaying towards Bay of Plenty.

charliedarling

That is just what we are after!

Am Loolah

Hi,

We did campervan with the 4 kids last year for 3 weeks - such good fun! When are you going? We'll be in the Bay of Plenty from April 11th and have frie4nds who've been there since October. PM me if you want more info? Maybe we should arrange a Cornwall meet-up and have a good whinge about here and a good ecited chit chat about there?!

SarahB

That is the norm here too. It totally surprised me and English friends to see 2 year olds using real tools. One kid was whirling a small but real hammer round his head and only just missed some little girls eye.... IMO its crazy... I wont change my mind on this one.

Jack The Lad

Oi. You cheeky sod. Just wait

Gill and Rob

Your children will certainly get a life out here, just a few weeks after arriving our daughter broke her arm on the school playground flying fox. She would never have had that opportunity to do that in the UK, a very valuable learning experience. In UK the school had no swings etc, nor did our local parks which had them removed for fear of litigation on the council. Here in Rotorua our kids can go to well equipped parks at both ends of our street AND we are confident to let them go unacompanied.

Our oldest daughter (then 11) was allowed to drive her teachers car on the school field. The teacher had been talking to the class about the dangers of young children being run over by cars reversing on driveways (a big issue here because everyone has a driveway, people don't just park in the street then drive off), she then took the whole class onto the field with her car and some bollards, then proceeded to get each of her kids to reverse upto the bollards and learn where the 'blind spot' was. If that is not interactive learning I don't know what is. It needs to be remembered kids can drive at 15 here.

Rob

charliedarling

The broken arm seems a bit drastic! But otherwise it sounds great - what a childhood should be like.
I wonder what all the children growing up in Britain will be like when they have to start work. They are going to be telling there employers that it is too dangerous to use a sharp pencil! Its just got too out of balance here.

charlie

Campbells

Isn't that the point of PC? The burglars are the ones that are protected & not you ?

Isn’t their “rights” to rob you ?

Not sure about you but PC needs to be re-thought.

My opinion for what it is worth – IS PC DOESN'T WORK.

I mean please, I shouldn't refer to my wife but rather my partner as the term husband & wife offends gay couples ?

Once again - my opinion. The world needs to wake up to this PC nonsense.

Don’t be surprised the next time you go to a wedding if you hear “ I now pronounce you, partner & partner”

My question is why is all this stuff getting rammed down our throats?

I mean, what benefit does my child get out being forced to learn Maori at school?

Surely that should be the parent’s choice ?

I mean if we look at it all from a different angle, i.e.

Let me go to India and tell them eating curry offends me and they must now all bow down to the sacred “ fish & chips”. Yeah, right.

Equality and racism is a two way street otherwise it is dictatorship!

Marika 38

Hi to Charliedarling and Amloolah, I'm a cornish lass trying to escape aswell, intresting you are near Bodmin Amloolah, we are in Bodmin. I was given this site address to look at by a lady moving to NZ in March, she is from Bodmin area, I havn't met her yet, but will be emailing her tonight to say thanks, its not you is it Amloolah??
So Charlie, whats your situation. We are currently chasing job offer, although it is getting near, I can feel it, and then hopefully after much form filling for a WTR Visa, we'll be in the north Island by August, thats the plan anyway.
Hope to hear from you both soon Marika

Apple12

Your children get to experience a different culture other than their own. They get to understand that not everyone sees the world the way they do. They get to be able to pronounce placenames properly, and explain to their immigrant parents what the placenames mean and the legends surrounding the landmarks. Your children get to feel that they belong in a strange land, they can understand the maori words that get sprinkled through NZ English (eg whanau, marae, hangi). Your children adapt to living in a place that is not the one they were born in.

I think your children are very lucky to have this opportunity, and you should make an effort to learn what they learn. I am not being pc at all, but I can see the advantages in children learning how their new country works.

soulflour

Campbells, you seem to be under the impression (along with the Daily Mail, I suspect) that 'PC' is some sort of organised political doctrine!

Safety issues are not 'pc'. 'PC' stands for 'Policitcally Correct' and could be used to describe carrying bananas on your back and doing a silly walk if that is what the governement of the day decreed was necessary!

It's just another term, like the 'looney left' dreamt up by the right-wing tabloids to provide an easy, over-used and over-simplified expression for the masses...

Urgh, maybe i'm having a bad morning but honestly! you see this misinterpretation everywhere on these boards at the moment and it's driving me batty!

If you don't like the political environment do something about it! effect social change! write, broadcast, investigate, research - be part of the solution. but DON'T try to hide your xenophobia or racism under the latest catchphrase that suddenly makes it OK to do so.

As for your child being forced to learn Maori - switch it around - how about the thousands of children everyday being forced to use English? They're both official languages of this country that we live in - get used to it.

SF

Campbells

Okay Sunflower,

How’ s this? I promise to offer my son to learn how to pronounce certain things in Maori.

I do not promise to let my son adopt the Maori culture before his English culture but he will get to the age of making his own informed decisions. Even then I will still be anti him tattooing his face.

If we just look at New Zealand as a whole for a moment and lets put asides the “culture” thing. What does the “country” need to grow; it needs to expand its performance in a global economy. Not more rugby players!

I see that as being the solution and in context of that I see preparing my son to perform in global competitiveness is the solution.

My focus is to have my son to have an overview of many different cultures so that he can interact but that does not mean taking on their ways. If my son later decides to re-locate to the USA he will be better equipped if his command of the English language is optimised.

The way I see it is that is based on results. I look at the UK and see minorities forcing their cultures on the Brits, for example the Muslims. Unfortunately the world operates and interprets the numbers.

I am not sure how you tackle the point of the minority of Maori in NZ being forced to learn English. I guess even if you had Maori only schools that would set them up for failure if the children wished to broaden their horizons later in life without a good command of English.

I guess you could say it is very sad that America does not speak Indian anymore yet there are the few that do. Neither I nor my family were part of what happened in America, I can not change that so being part of the solution is that I chose to accept that in America the main language is English and get on with it.

Cheers mate……..

Maz

I was "forced" to learn French and German in school in England. Did me nothing but good and helped me expand my horizons.

Apple12

Excellent, thanks Campbells! I can't wait to see what rant you have for us tomorrow.

I can see that you are not settling into your new country at all, what a shame.

NZ is not likely to change to suit your needs, for you to settle in to NZ then you will need to be the one who changes. If this is causing you such grief, then perhaps it is up to you to reassess what you want out of life, and where you want to be.

Can you see the ultimate irony in your posts? You complain that "I look at the UK and see minorities forcing their cultures on the Brits" but now you are an immigrant in someone else's country you complain that you are being forced to adapt to the hosts country. There is an irony there, see if you can spot it.

Having your children learn a little Maori does not restrict them in what they want to do in the future, it broadens them, such that they can adapt and be settled where-ever in the world they end up. You have brought them to NZ, surely you want them to make friends, settle in, and enjoy this new place that you have brought them to. Just because you are miserable does not mean that your children automatically have to be too.

Apple12

Also, I thought you might want to be better informed on this point, given that you might want to learn more about the country you have chosen to live in...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohanga_reo
http://www.kohanga.ac.nz/beginning.html