Were thinking of leaving California and moving to Melbourne Austraila. Is that a good move for kids?

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Jon

I think its a great idea. Australia is one of the safest and best places in the world to bring up kids. Its outdoor lifestlye and laid back feel makes it easy to bring up kids.

My sister in law moved from San Francisco to Melbourne without too much problem.

From an environment point of view its outstanding and the schooling is very good.

Brittnay P

the public education system in Australia is internationally known as being really great, Melbourne is the third largest city in Australia and it is right on the water at a bay, so the views are amazing! I was only there for a week or so, but it seems safe enough to raise children. My family has some friends who lived near there for 5 years and there children all did very well and one went on to harvard, the other to West-point, so don't worry about there schools. If you live in southern california then the environment won't be a big culture shock but northern california is a bigger difference, but that isn't really a bad thing. Good luck, hope i helped!

jstnfox

School is Excellent it is top notch. You would NOT be limiting there education or stopping them from achieving what they want as a job. Melbourne is a Kid and Entire family friendly city that you will just love to live in. Its clean,green and everything pristine. So pack up your stuff and book a plane ticket. Melbourne here you come! :)

Daniel S

Melbourne is so full of goodness for raising children.

There are lots of private schools to choose from and they are all full of competitive children. But don't let that discourage you because the teachers (at least for now, in good schools) really go out of their way to make a difference in your child's education. It's just that being competitive while being fair at the same time is what being an Australian is all about, especially in Melbourne.

If you still think that Ivy League is the only college life your kids should have, there is an SAT center in Melbourne that your kids can do to qualify.

Crime rate there is really low, so it's good to raise kids in. I mean, any kind of crimes that involve firearms are between the melbourne mafia gangs who strictly stay out of public business. I was there 5 years and I had no idea they had gangs. Nobody in Melbourne mentions it, as if it they don't make a difference in how they live. That's how it is there.

And it's full of parks to take children to. They are all beautiful and when you are there, you would find it hard to believe how many beautiful landscapes the smallest state of Australia has.

Melbourne also hosts the Australian Open, and that means your kids can say they have been to 18 grand slams by the time they are old enough for college and who else on earth their age can say they have?

Jillot

I pretty much agree with Safyre - except don't think that her saying we are 10 years behind that we don't have any technology - we still have the i-phone and broadband and high definition TV! But some areas because of the lack of people therefore lack of competition don't have as much access to choice of carrier or speed of broadband. I think our healthcare system is as good or better - we have government funded healthcare ( a some of it anyway). I think the cities - Melbourne - is a great place for kids - clean, unpolluted, close to the country but has all a city can offer anywhere else.

Only thing i would say is don't underestimate the lack of family - it is one thing to say , oh we have internet, Skype, webcams etc but that's not the same - you can't hug someone on a web cam so you can feel isolated. Having kids however helps with meeting people and socialising with other families.

ljjahn

Listen, I moved to Melbourne from Venezuela last year and it has been the best decision I've ever made. My kids are loving it. Kids here are much more innocent than in the US. ThereÂ´s no bullying of any kind (SchoolÂ´s are closely monitored by the Government). I wouldnÂ´t know about public schools because my kids atend private ones, but these are great. There are all sorts of activities for them and, if theyÂ´re into sports, they can practice any of them, including baseball. ThereÂ´s always a tennis court, a swimming pool or a golf course around the corner.

SafÃ¿re

I would just point out a couple of major differences between California and Melbourne.
1. We're not on a fault line. Melbourne does NOT shake.
2. Australia never had slavery. So I have always found Australia (in general) to be more accepting of other cultures/races. Don't get me wrong, we have racism; but it's not that prevalent. We pretty much all get along. After all, only the Koori are "locals" - everyone else came from somewhere else.
3. Our values (Australian's in general) tend to be more down to Earth. This is only personal perspective (from someone that lived in The States for four years). We like to have all the latest gadgets; don't get me wrong. But I don't think Australians are as obsessed with Prada, Tommy Hilfiger or Jimmy Choo et al.

Finally (and I'm not denigrating my own country here), but Australia's about ten years behind the U.S. So if you were happier pre-9/11, then you'd probably love Australia (in general), and Melbourne in particular.

Iceman

Melbourne is a very nice city for kids it has good schools and is very safe because it is very difficult to get a gun in Australia. Melbourne also has excellent bicycle lanes for people to ride on for more information this website has some good infomation. http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=124&languageId=1&contentId=-1

wilderwriter

The odds are that your children would not get as good an education, at least in the public schools. And you might be limiting their career potential, being that far from the world's largest market. But if you want to see them develop along lines different from the American Dream, then maybe Australia could be a good idea.

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