dibyrne

I came across the following post:

I Hate Spain - I Hate Living in Spain & The Spanish...

Amongst some of the responses I came across a post by Sammy. He described quite a sad school life, in particular bullying of English kids. The way I read it it seems almost inevitable an English child will be bullied.

Of course, bullying can be a problem anywhere, but my 9 year old son is happy enough where he is and has no issues with bullying. Should I be concerned? Am I taking him from a relatively safe environment and putting him into a situation where there is a high likelihood he'll be subject to bullying and isolation?

I'm starting to wonder if we should delay our plans and wait until he's finished school, but in some ways that defeats one of our objectives which is for him to learn another language.

Any advice or thoughts would be very helpful.

Di

snikpoh

My eldest was about the same age when we came over and he did just fine.

We have been here for about 10 years now and in that time none of my 3 children have been bullied at all. Maybe we've been lucky but I don't think it's really a problem here - certainly no more than elsewhere.

BUT YOU MUST ALL TRY AND INTEGRATE.

gill556

I know of several families that returned to the UK because of their child being bullied. A lot of the problems is when the parents are unable to communicate with the teachers because they don't speak Spanish so nothing gets done.

amideislas

This is the very first I've ever heard of any such thing, but I don't have kids in school.

missile

I have always found Spanish people to be welcoming. Far more so than Brits are to foreigners moving to UK.

snikpoh

... but that doesn't prevent it happening in the first place.

If the parents don't at least try and speak Spanish, then yes, the children will feel more isolated and find it harder to integrate and so bullying may happen.

However, in my experience and others in this area, it simply doesn't happen.


Maybe it's more prevalent where there are more foreigners?

Mark604

You get bullying every and anywhere, in every country. The catalyst doesn't have to be foreigners or immigrants, there are those that will be bullies no matter the circumstances. My two kids are at a local Spanish school and have never had an problems at all. Mostly the other kids have gone out of their way to help with language difficulties or any other problems.
I certainly wouldn't alter my plans as regards moving to Spain just because of the possibility of it.
In any case, if it did happen, me not speaking Spanish so well wouldn't stop me going to the school to sort it out in short order.

Mark604

Just to add - I've now read in full the article above and can only say I have a different opinion. I wonder how much influence living down on the coast where there are many expats has on their feelings compared with living quite a way (2 hours for me) inland.

Silas Mickey

Everyone has different kind of thoughts and opinion. Not all men are same thought and thinking.

dibyrne

We're planning on the costa blanca, inland a little from Javea. We're going for a look-see in three weeks and will visit some of the schools in the area.

Silas Mickey

That's very good idea. How much people in your team in total?

Liana12433

My eldest son is Russian, he loves school and has zero problems. In fact when he was daft crossing the road one day the other kids told the teacher to be aware as they were worried. I have had no negative things happen to me or my family, I work with Spanish guys and als and we have a great laugh. These things can happen anywhere, not just Spain. Just be observant and be in contact with the school regularly if anything untoward appears to happen. My two pennys worth any ways.

JuliaStein

I don't love in Spanish only one thing - they usually miss and break deadlines

amideislas

The Spanish like to refer to the Germans as "cabeza quadrato", at least in part because they have this funny way of doing everything on a precisely timed schedule. Not a minute too early, not a minute too late. And expect everyone else to be the same.

cricketman

cabeza cuadrado

It is a common trait for us Northern Europeans