As I sit here, deliberating what to share with you first, I am torn. Living abroad with children is a whirlwind of life experiences. Sometimes you just need to stop, take a breath and slow down. Otherwise, life simply passes you by.
It has been far too long since our last blog post but we do have an excuse. In fact, we have several fabulous excuses. We have eleven weeks worth of excuses.
I have made a promise to myself that I am going to take the time to relive our amazing summer and share our memories with you, in the form of blog posts and lots of beautiful pictures.
So much has happened and is happening. This coming year is marked by change. Lots of changes. More changes than we’ve had for many years.
The fountains in the new Plaza in Mijas Pueblo
Tomorrow is the first day of back to school for our daughter, Francesca. We were not expecting any changes for Francesca. Our daughter thrives on routine and stability. Unexpected changes can be painful.
It is important to remember that changes are inevitable when living abroad with children. Learning to adapt to change is an essential skill for living abroad.
Learning to adapt to change is an essential skill for living abroad. #relocation Click To Tweet
Let me take time out for a second, my mind is racing ahead of me already …
Here is a taste of the stories we will be sharing with you over the coming weeks:
- Our son’s education story: The end of an era and new beginnings in bilingual education
- Making Memories: Summer holidays in Cadiz, Paris, The Dordogne, Archidona, Paxos and London
- The Challenges of Living Abroad: I found a Lump and how it affected my relationships.
- Integration and Family Time: Padel Tennis
- Spanish Bureaucracy: Why we have chosen to live in a building site rather than sell our house in Spain and buy another one
- The Language Show Live 2016 : Presenting Cooking With Languages.
But before all that, here we are today:
As I mentioned, tomorrow is the first day of a new school year for infant and primary, state school in Spain. Francesca is heading back to school in the morning.
It was “school as usual”, up until two days ago that is when we were advised of an unexpected change.
For the first time in six years, she is starting the school year in a new class. She is still at the same school in the village but, due to changes made by the Junta, she is now no longer with the same classmates she’s been with for the past six years.The previous three classes have been merged into two. There will be twenty-eight children in each class. Francesca, along with three others from her class have been moved. How they decided this, I have no idea. However, we are grateful that she is still going to be with one of her best friends. Her other best friend, however, has not been moved. We are hoping this will change.
When you’re moving and living abroad with children, stability is an important part of their lives and we have previously been concerned that Francesca’s lack of confidence was due to the fact she’d been moved so many times, from such an early age. The news about her being moved to another class initially shocked and upset me. I was afraid how it would affect her.
Thankfully, so far, this is proving not to be the case. Despite my fears, she does not appear to be scared and is very happy to be returning to school tomorrow, even though there’s going to be a big change in her learning environment. An environment which has been stable for her, for the past six years.
Her strength and ability to adapt just prove how strong children really are. I do believe that provided we pay attention to them and are aware of their feelings and their behaviours and we take the right steps we can help them, they can adapt to almost any environment.
One of the *main reasons we decided that our children should go to the local state school rather than the private international school, was stability. The expat community is generally a very transient community. Friends, with children in international schools, have often told us how their children struggled to maintain good friendships as many expat children, for differing reasons, come and go over the years. Enrolling our children in the local village school has resulted in them, particularly Francesca, developing beautiful bonds and friendships with Spanish children. Children who have grown up in the village and who are here to stay, although we know that nothing is guaranteed.
(*In case you were wondering, the main reason was the desire to learn the language and become bilingual.)
Francesca warming up and stretching before ballet class.
The stability and the lack of change in her class have helped Francesca gain in self-confidence over the years. It has been a slow process but we are getting there. Her school is a place where she is growing in confidence. She knows all her classmates, they go to parties and ferias together. She knows who she sits with during class time. She knows what to expect. She loves the school routine. Or she did …
This is a massive change for her, in the most constant environment. It will be interesting to see how she copes with it and what effect it has on her however in the coming months.
We are hoping that the new found confidence, thanks to her ballet classes, continues to grow and she can enjoy what lies ahead in this new school year. One day our little lady will enjoy the confidence she so deserves.
Thursday marks an even bigger change. Our son Joshua will start a new chapter in his education. A new chapter in a new school. An exciting new chapter in bilingual education.
And that, my friends, is a whole new story …
