I know lots of people heading here with teenagers worry about them making the transition so I thought I'd ask my 2 a few questions they are a girl of 19 & a boy of 15, they were 17 & 13 when we arrived
Only their humble opinions

No1 child ~ 3 things you miss about the UK .......
1. Buildings
2. Custard creams
3. Narrow streets coz it felt more 'homely'

3 things you don't miss .......
1. Yobs
2. Council houses
3. Men shouting rude stuff out of car windows

3 things you like about here .......
1. The weather, you never know at the start of the day what it'll be like at the end
2. People are kinder
3. Little things don't seem to bother people

3 things you don't like about here .......

1. The smell of olives in stores
2. No matter where I am I can always see a 'Timmies'!!
3. Can't tell if people really like you coz everyone's nice.

I asked her 'If you could give another teen 1 piece of advice about moving what would it be?' She said 'relax, it's almost impossible to be too chilled out here'

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No2 child ~ 3 things you miss about the UK .......

1. Food
2. Footie at lunchtime at school
3. Playing footie in the park on Saturday mornings

3 things you don't miss .......

1. Chavs
2. Reality TV
3. Brown water in rivers & at Weston-super-mare

3 things you like about here .......

1. My dog
2. Team sports
3. High school

3 things you don't like about here .......

1. Social studies
2. Mullets
3. Food

His one piece of advice was 'bring a lifetime supply of chocolate'

Have to admit that these answers would be very similar to the ones I would get from my two - girl 13 and boy nearly 12.

Gaynor
x

I am going to print this off and show it to my eldest. She will be 13 when we move over permanently and at the moment she is blowing hot and cold, one minute she loves Canada, the next she doesn't want to go and leave all her friends, etc........

Just like all the other parents on here I am worried that she'll hate it and won't fit in but I have to stay positive.

Karen

Good plan our 14 year old daughter changes her mind daily about moving. One minute its I am not going and you can't make me go to finding houses she likes on the internet that we could live in.

Overall we think she will like it but it will be hard until it all settles down, but good post.

I was concerned for my younger one as he's not a social butterfly like his sister, he was pretty sensitive & found secondary school a bit tough sometimes ....... when we left I asked him what bothered him about leaving the most & he said missing his best friend . The first week or two of school here were a bit 'wobbly' but soon settled down (phew!!)

As far as fitting in, when we arrived he looked like a little kid with short hair & tidy clothes , now he's growing up, his hair is almost as long as his sisters, he has facial hair, his friends looks like drop-outs from the rocky horror picture show & he says 'like' WAY too many times in a sentence but is very happy here & doesn't even want to come back with me for a visit to the UK.

That is SO like my boy, now 16!
When we arrived he was shorter than me .... I could rest my chin on his head.
Two years later he can just about do the same to me!!!! He also is trying to grow the fluff on his chin.
And what IS the thing about where they insist on wearing pants halfway down their bum, with all their underwear hanging out?

He loves it here, and says Canada is WAAAAY cool compared to the UK.

my daughter is 16 and last summer at the cottage up north of Toronto, there were all the friends of her cousins, seemed to be all bronzed, blonde, toned and all wearing their knee length swim shorts on their hips way low!, her eyes where on stalks! oh and i wished i was 20 years younger, i think she is going to like her new friends:-)