18months ago, we moved interstate - for work and a new location that we so wanted to live in - beachside.  8 (now 9) year old daughter has settled in fantastic!!  I was worried she would struggle as she is overweight and gets teased sometimes, but the girls in her class are gorgeous to her.  14 (now 15) year old, came along, with a totally negative attitude and never really tried to settle in, given that, it was also very hard, change of states meant she had to 'go down' a grade, so an extra yaer of school was added to her plans.  the high school she went to was totally revolting, yes even I didn't like it, but tried real hard for her.  even sent her to a private school, but she had to bus for 45 minutes each way and that was something she was not used to.  her education was going to be affected real bad, my sister (who is 15 years older than me) offered to have her stay with her family to get her back to school in Qld.  My sister is very strict, and daughter has to live by her rules.  Which for about 12 monthsincluded no internet, (we were allowed to gt her a netbook with access for her 15th birthday).  I pay for the connection and her board and lodgings obviuosly.  She comes home every holidays and 'hates' it here, or so she says.  But now accepts that this si where we are staying as her dad has a job here now too and we all love it. 

She finishes her junior (grade 10) this year.  And we are talkinga bout her coming back here (as she is missing us dearly), and going to tafe to do child care studies.  She is quite bright, always has been, but during the last couple of years, we have noticed, school is more of a 'social' occassion, even her subject seletcions are arts orientated, dance, drama, media, she was not always interested inthese.  So her grade 12 pass will not be overly high.  She is toying with child care/teaching as a career, but she doesn't really know.  Who does at school ??

Anyway, jsut wondering if anyone had any similar experiences or ideas?  Thanks.

If you'd told me having kids would be so difficult I'm not sure I'd have done it!!!  Not true but I guess thats the cry of all mothers of teenagers!  Ask a teenager while they still know everything!

But .... we moved 6 years ago due to family problems within a family business.  In short my "new" sister in law didn't want anything to do with us and ruined a family business that had been successful for nearly 20 years.

We decided to move for mental health reasons (ours) and had 3 kids, 1 going into year 7 who is now finishing year 12, 1 into grade 5 and 1 into grade 3.  Thought it was the right time to move because the eldest was moving into a new school anyway!!  Ha ha ha! He went from being a really bright kid in his class to being bullied at school (not that we were aware of it at the time) and hating school rather than living for it.  He still struggles but decided to complete year 12 ... I mean complete ... he is only filling in time and wants to come home into our family farming business.  He has just taken on a new piece of machinery worth around $180,000 (the debt is totally his) and can't wait to get out of school.  He has put little to no effort into year 12 but his social life has improved from nothing to a few outings with some of the other year 12's.  He doesn't drink much or do drugs which a few of his friends do so he doesn't really hang out at weekends with them but prefers to sit on a tractor!!!

Miss now 16 had some real bitchy friends before we moved and was really quite that way herself.  She has been the lucky one who has benefited the most.  She has a great group of friends, has turned into a lovely young woman and I'm quite happy to go to the cinema or for coffee or shopping with her and vice versa.  A complete turn around because I declared quite often that if she wasn't the death of me I'd be the death of her.

Miss now 14 who was really a great kid but has exczema problems with her lips which usually mean they are red & swollen with great cracks down them was picked on from day 1 at her new school.  Made some friends who were either hot or cold, not really supportive but there just the same.  Made new friends when she moved to secondary college 2 years ago and is now seeing the school counsellor.  She is "sad" all the time and really really hard on herself.  Expects either the world or is under the sea!  She is the problem in our lives at the moment and we are continually walking on egg shells trying not to upset her too much however I'm sure a good kick up the backside would be more beneficial - it would make me feel better.

Moving is hard, I used to go and visit my friends who are really only 2 1/2 hours away and come home in tears until one night I ended up in emergency in our local hospital thinking I was having a heart attack.  My husband told me I needed to leave my old life behind and make a new one.  Now I'm busier than ever and still see my old friends every couple of months.  They are the best sort of friends that you can pick up with where you left off and not lose any time inbetween.  I really don't have any close friends where we live at the moment but I'm getting there.

I've always struggled with my weight but put on around 30kg the 1st year after we shifted.  It was the only time in my whole life (now 41) that I haven't worked for pay out of the family business and it nearly killed me.  Hence the TF journey.  I still get down and disheartened all the time and it's really a struggle but onward to better things.

Caz




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