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The Life of an Expat Wife - children

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by Marieantao, Aug 8, 2012.

  1. Marieantao

    Marieantao Silver IL'ite

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    For any parents with young children, parenting can be quite a daunting task, you are basically learning on the job! And then come the really tough times when the kids get ill or suddenly decide meals are not for them, then who do you turn to? For me, when I was home if anything went wrong with my kids, all I had to do was pick up the phone and call mum, to me my mother was the ultimate authority on child rearing, after all she had given birth to six of us, and brought us up single handedly, with a little help from my dad of course. Nine times out of ten she would be spot on with her advice,from how to deal with that terrible cough or cold,or how to treat my babies when they contacted the usual childhood illnesses. so I hardly ever needed to go to the doctor, except for the usual shots for the kids or a couple of stitches for my son (who was the most accident prone kid I have known) All that
    changed dramatically once we moved abroad, I felt I was in the doctors office almost every other week. But on the plus side, I have since learnt to cope and deal with every ailment possible, be it physical or psychological. From broken bones to broken hearts. The broken bones was my son, the broken hearts was my beautiful, growing daughter. Now that I have all this experience though, I have no kids around to use it on, so shall have to wait till the grandchildren come along I suppose?????
    Moving to a new country is hard on the whole family, but I have realized it is very hard on the kids in the beginning. After all they have left all things familiar behind, and worst of all they have left their dear friends, and now they have this fear that they are going to be entering a new school and will have to start making friends all over again.the best decision my husband and I made at this juncture, was to enroll them into an International school. This school had only expatriate students, and so all the other kids or most of them were in the same boat as my children. So there were no cliques to fit into, no groups that they had to try and be part of, almost everyone in their class was new, and so they were all starting afresh. They loved their school, and they loved making friends, every other day in that first month, they would come home to tell me they had made friends with some kid from Germany, or Spain, or the UK or Japan. The list was endless. On the weekends when they had friends over, it was like a mini UN.
    Life with our kids in this new home of ours, was one of the most enriching, and fulfilling times of my life. It all started one evening when having dinner, my daughter turned to me and said,"mom they are looking for a parent from our grade, to be the representative on the PTA, why don't you volunteer? " " I'm sure you will be able to do a great job" from the time I took up that challenge, to the day my children graduated from high school, I became one of the most involved, and committed parents in that school. My kids and husband always believed I could do anything I put my mind to, and who was I to disappoint them. So I who was always content to be in the background, was now chair person of various school commitees, was organizing major events, was on the board of the PTA. And even public speaking to an auditorium full of parents. Those children of mine really helped me realize, hat I was really capable of.
    Being a family unit abroad, really helps you appreciate one another. There are no au ts, uncles, cousins, grandparents one can depend on, so it's just you. For us it was the four of us that did just about everything and went everywhere together, we had some wonderful and unforgettable holidays in different parts of the world. So today if our kids our still so close to us, and share all their joys and troubles with us, it's because of all those wonderful together times. Physically they are both at two different ends of the world from us, but that bond is as strong as ever.
    I have now reached the stage of my life, where the kids have left the nest, and I sometimes long for those days that were so full of noise, and fun, laughter and non stop activities. It was like a constant merry go round that never stopped.
    So my advice to all you young mothers out there, make the most of your children's growing years, sure at times you wish you could just get off that merry go round for a couple of hours, and have some peace and quiet. Believe me you will have more peace and quiet than you can handle once they have left home.
    It is said," the best thing to spend on your children, is your time."

    Bye now.
     
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  2. insha

    insha Gold IL'ite

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    Hi Marieantao,
    Very beautifully narrated.Yes my mom now misses our( me and my sis) ever busy school days.She feels her life was so good then.We liked our school life beacuse we had no responsibilities then and she liked our school life because life moved fast due to her responsibilities.Maybe this is the irony of life...
     
  3. Marieantao

    Marieantao Silver IL'ite

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    Very true Insha, one never appreciates the everyday things in life, because they seem so mundane, but take them away and there is really nothing left.
     
  4. mssunitha2001

    mssunitha2001 IL Hall of Fame

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    Very true...

    Loving your blogs and eagerly awaiting for your next one !!!!!!!!!

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Marieantao

    Marieantao Silver IL'ite

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