Thread: moving to halifax from northern ireland with teenager

Hi everyone, my husband has been offered a job in halifax and we are contemplating the move. i have 3 children and my youngest 2 are excited but my teenage daughter who is 14 is devastated as she doesn't want to leave school, friends and boyfriend. has anyone experienced something similar? i would love to hear from anyone who has and how their teens have settled in, i tried posting on another expat forum but no one has replied. please if anyone can help, write back as i would love some positive stories to set my daughters mind at rest.

Hey and welcome to the forum.

Hope that someone will be able to tell you about their experiences. I'm sure there are plenty that have had the same situation as you.

:)

Hi,
I moved to Canaca when I was 19 years old.
Your 14 year old will love it here. Her accent will be a novelty and she will have all the boys chasing her, and all the girls wanting to be friends.
Once she is over the initial shock, she won't look back.

Hi I moved to Canada (30 years ago when I was 15). At first I hated it, was the first of my family to get citizenship so that I could return back to the UK if I wished. Well 30 years later I am still here in Canada.

I did a smiliar move to Australia almost 3 years ago with my twin daughters who were turning 15 at the time. We just came back to Canada after living in Australia for just over 2 years. It was hard, I think it was harder on me, as my girls didn't really settle. They did make friends however, and even worked part time in Australia. I thiink my girls missed family more than anything. They found it very lonely at Christmas and their birthdays, as it was just the 4 of us.

We did not return to Canada due to girls missing family..... my OH lost his employment last September, and financially it was going to be hard on us in Australia, and I just happened to put out feelers for jobs and got my old job back in Canada. Cost of living here is cheaper than Australia, and therefore it made sense for us to come back home to Canada.

Your daughter will like Canada, like someone mentioned, her accent will be a starting point for conversations and she should make friends easily. As far as schooling goes, you will find that she will probably be ahead of her classmates.

Good luck with the move.... the maritimes are a lovely area of Canada and nice friendly people. I am sure that you will all be fine..... just remember it does take some time to adjust to living in a new country, and that although we speak english, it is a different culture lol.

If you want any more info on moving with teenagers, please feel free to PM me.

Cheers

Karen

Hi Melwaite

Its all been said in above posts so will just add that my Teen daughters love it here but were younger on arrival.
Think it will be very hard at first for her but things could change pretty quickly

Hey twinsmom - didnt know you were back in On - hope all is good with you guys

Halifax, isn't such a bad place, somewhat remote, like Vancouver. At least with Porter Airlines you can fly directly to downtown Toronto, you'll want to do that and Montreal etc.
Driving is a drag. it's so far to anywhere but hey you have a young family with young driving eyes. But the City itself is pretty safe, green friendly anti smoking and trying to grow up but doesn't really have the population to support, say a major sports stadium (they had their chance). If you like middle eastern food their donairs are very popular, it's hard to find good Italian food, plenty of greek, Indian limited however Scotia Sq DT has a great little kiosk in their foodcourt. If yous get a night off from the kids , the best pub is the Henry House serves the best pint of best bitter from Granite Brewery (micro). There is a vibrant soccer community, equestrian but not a thoroughbred race track until hit Ontario,2 provinces west. Good Libraries lots of free DVD's & Dartmouth is a dump.

Originally Posted by melwaite

Hi everyone, my husband has been offered a job in halifax and we are contemplating the move. i have 3 children and my youngest 2 are excited but my teenage daughter who is 14 is devastated as she doesn't want to leave school, friends and boyfriend. has anyone experienced something similar? i would love to hear from anyone who has and how their teens have settled in, i tried posting on another expat forum but no one has replied. please if anyone can help, write back as i would love some positive stories to set my daughters mind at rest.

Came here to Canada 14 years ago when my daughter was 15 she hated it never fitted in the school as most kids were friends since kindergarden the kids mocked her accent she wasn't allowed to get part time job as we were on work permit she is married now and looking forward to going back to Northern ireland when her husband gets his visa
She has never forgiven us for bringing her here

Once your 14yr old gets to Halifax she'll love it. It is a very busy city. Halifax is a social city with plenty of things for teens to do. My brother was in the navy there and when I visited him and his family as a teen, I enjoyed a wonderful social life. My bro married a Halifax girl who showed me the city and all that it contained for teens to enjoy. There are some super sites for mom and dad too. It's one of Canada's oldest cities so has many historical sites. It has excellent schools and universities for the young to attend. it won't take much effort for any teen to find friends there.

Thanks for sharing Mary it sounds lovely x

There is some excellent info on Halifax if you just type in Halifax Nova Scotia into a search engine. Things that I didn't mention. You can see just how diverse it is and how much there is for teens.