Job Discussion Forums

[Ms. Atondo]

So, after almost 2 years of being away from my dear Mexico I am thinking I might need to return. I have all the qualifications I need, Bachelor's Degree, TESOL cert. experience teaching in both a primaria and private language school, bla bla bla...so none of that is a problem. The only problem I see facing me is that I now have a 10 month old son that will (obviously) be coming with me.

Did any of you out there come to Mexico with small Children? If so, what were some of the obstacles you came accross. For example, on average what hours do guararias or kinders operate? For example, when I taught grade 5 I worked from 7:30 to 3:30 so would this be a problem? What about health care? Immunization? Anything I am not thinking of?

Any comments are greatly appreciated. Also, I would likely return to work in Morelia, if that makes a difference.

[MELEE]

I didn't come to Mexico with small children, I had them here. I know an EXCELLENT, truely excellent pediatrician in Morelia. I often comtemplate taking my girls on an 11 hour drive back to Morelia, just so we can see him again. If you do move back there, let me know and I will give you his contact details. We've always taken the girls to private doctors, although they are covered by my IMSS and my husband had ISSTTE for the frist two years of their lives. We've always just paid out of pocket for their docotor visits and their medicines. If they got any thing serious and had to be hospitalized I'd probably have to take them to IMSS money wise. The vaccinations are free for any child in Mexico, well, I don't know about foriegners, my girls are Mexican. Speaking of that, you will need to get him an FM3 if you don't plan on leaving the country every 180 days, which will cost as much as yours. We had a teacher in the past with two non Mexican preschool ages kids and they had to each have their own FM3s.

7.30 to 3.30 would be great hours daycare wise. If you have a job that provides IMSS or ISSTTE they have daycare centers which your dependents can go to for free (well as part of your coverage). Because I work 9-2 and 4-7 I also have a nanny. They go to the IMSS daycare from 8.30 to 2 and then stay with the housekeeper-nanny from 4 to 7. She's a live in and does the house work and cooking as well as taking care of them.
Are you a single mother? there are a lot of single mothers in Mexico, but they usually have other support, like from their mom or a sister or something.
What esle you might want to think about is housing and cleanliness factors. I'm not a germ freak. But I'm on another forum for mom's of twins with a lot of germ freaks, they could never live in Mexico with their babies! Also think about how you feel about tile floors, alacranes, baby proofing, public transport or being the only parent who has a car seat in their car. etc. etc.
When I was in Morelia (the girls were 3 to 11 months old) I took my girls to a private daycare two mornings a week and it cost 1,500 a month. So full time private daycare might just take up all of your salary. I was on a paid sabbatical from my job and my husband was on a grad school stipen so we had enough money then.

[Ms. Atondo]

To answer a few of your questions....

Yes, I am a single mother so I wont have the unlimited supply of family members to rely on As far an cleanliness goes, it doesnt bother me too much. We were in Morelia in September visiting and I only had to step on a few bugs before they got to him! I am a little concerned about doing a lot of travelling via combi or taxi because after being in Canada for so long notstrapping my child down in a 5-point harness seems so negligent! I had a death grip on the baby during the half hour taxi ride into town down the highway from the Morelia airport.

Two years ago I was living in a nice and very clean three bedroom apartment paying 2600 of my 6000 pesos towards rent. So not much room to work with after transportation, food, and utilities. But seems like it could be done.

Good to know my son will need an FM3. I never thought of that. I would likely try to get us permanent papers of some sort and pay out of pocket for medican expensed in the mean while, if need be.

This is a really hard decision! And yes, I realize that hundreds of thousands of children grow up fine in Mexico. I just dont want to make a big mistake giving up all my free Canadian health care and social benefits.

[MELEE]

[Ms. Atondo]

Thanks MELEE for all the advice. I'm still no closer to deciding...I think I will just wait and see where the wind (or warmer weather) takes me.

B.T.W. I think MamaOaxaca is a great name!