Job Discussion Forums

[Guy Courchesne]

From your list of cities, Aguascalientes gets my recommendation. It is a city, but not large. Fairly clean, fairly safe, moderate climate, with access to everything you'll need. Puebla would get my second vote.

The others are massive cities, are very warm, are touristy, lacking services, or with some political instability....all IMHO of course.

[hlamb]

I know an English girl who has a baby here and she said she's had to relax some of her ideas about childrearing due to local circumstances and the interference of the Mexican grandparents. But she said the baby will probably grow up happier and less constrained than in England.

[Ben Round de Bloc]

[Sgt Killjoy]

I have no problem taking my kids to Mexico. My oldest went to Mexico the first time at 3 years old. He loved it.

[ejh263]

Thanks a lot for all your comments. There are a number of other countries in Latin America I can have my placement, but based on the comments above Mexico is definitely somewhere I will look in to in more depth.

[cangringo]

I don't know about the rest but if you don't want big city, take Monterrey off your list. If you have to go big city and want one that's safe, I can't say it's very safe here and you can get fairly cheap rent. The cost of living is very high though. We don't want big city so are planning to move in the summer or shortly after but we will miss it here and the people are great.

Oh the other reason we are leaving is the weather, it's freakishly hot in the summer and gets pretty chilly in the winter. It's mostly the winter that bothers me and it raises your cost of living even more because you will want a heater and your gas or electric bill will go up. Unless you want to sit around your house in a jacket for weeks on end.

That said, it's a beautiful day today, temp is 24 or higher. Weird, weird weather - tomorrow it might be 5 - who knows.

[MamaOaxaca]

For the last couple of days, I've been trying to think about how I can answer this that would give the OP useful information. After all, Gallo didn't get it quite right, it's not quite like asking "Is it safe to bring my baby to London?" the OP asked about the whole country, as in "Is is safe to bring my baby to Britian?" Afterall, I have heard that the Brits encourage their children to believe in witches and wizzards! That they feed their babies processed food and put them on ridged schedules.

Back when she just found out that she was pregnant, she posted that she'd take her child abroad after it was about 18 monhts old. It's actually heck of a lot easier to travel with an infant than with a toddler. Well, no, I don't really know that because I've never had one infant, but it IS a heck of a lot easier to travel with two infants than it is to travel with two toddlers. Toddlers have learnt to walk, and very soon after that they learn to run. They still love to check everything out by putting it in their mouths and can't tell the difference between a harmless cricket and a scorpion. They may be out going and happy to go off with any stranger or they may be terribly shy and constantly cling to your leg when ever anyone other than mum and dad are around.
An infant on the other hand is easy to carry around with you, if you are breast feeding them you can do that anywhere, and need realitively little equipment. For a toddler you have to pack a giant case when ever you go out because they tend to get very dirty and need to be changed often. An over tired infant quickly falls asleep anywhere. An over tired toddler is one of hell's worst furries. And infant says nothing and looks cute. A toddler loudy points out that the women across the isle's chichis are much bigger than yours.

As hlamb said, women, like me who have bicultural children have to accept a lot of aspects about the child's culture that is different from their own, but when a couple who are both from the same country move abroad, the compromises are more along the lines of brands of formula rather than values.

As other's have said, most Mexican foreign EFL teachers don't make a lot, and expenses for three can be much higher than for one, depending on how you want to live.

Mexico has top notch private health care available, but you will probably have to pay out of pocket for it. I think the biggest difference is in trama care, but all parents hope that they will never need that.

In the end, you are only talking about a year. A year as a mother flies by. And unfortunately, your child will not be old enough to remember any of it.

[Guy Courchesne]

[ejh263]

Thanks for your input.... and looking at my little angel, who sleeps and smiles, in comparison to my 16 month old nephew, who screams, runs and falls everywhere, I definitely agree with the point that travelling with a baby is much easier than with a toddler!
As for the slating of the UK..... I agree that the culture here and the way things have become are not the best for a child, that is exactly why my partner and I want to travel so that we can find somewhere abroad that we may want to settle, to give our daughter a better quality of life. Sadly, a lot of people in the UK do actually share the same view as me, ...but like me most seek a better life away, rather than to stick around and try to turn things around!
Financially speaking, we would be renting our house in the UK when we go away, and my partner is selling his business, so I hope this, with my salary would be enough to live on wherever we end up, atleast for a little while.

[vashdown2]

When I lied and worked at the Universidad de Guadalajara in 1997- I made about 400-500 dollars/month. Rent was 80 dollars.

Remember that domestic help- and nannys- are PLENTIFUL in Mexico! You will probable be able to hire someone to help you a bit with childcare... don't worry!

[MamaOaxaca]