Children of Thai Farang unions

[Bower]

What is the likely situation for say teenage children of mixed marriges in Thailand ?

There must be huge Western influences in their lives,but will they follow their schoolmates or begin to question the cultre of 'face' open corruption, class structures. Are the kids heading for a difficult time as they may have a more open view of the world outside Thailand.

Do the expats in this forum with children, move back to the West to school their children ? or would this separate them from their maternal culture.

It would be interesting to hear views of the children themselves if there have been any studies.

[buriramboy]

Do the expats in this forum with children, move back to the West to school their children ?

Yes, moved back to the UK when my daughter was 5 back in Dec 2008 after best part of 10 years in Thailand and that was the main reason.

[Bower]

Do the expats in this forum with children, move back to the West to school their children ?

Yes, moved back to the UK when my daughter was 5 back in Dec 2008 after best part of 10 years in Thailand and that was the main reason.

May i ask if you intend to return as a resident after her schooling?

[the dogcatcher]

My mate did consider relocating his family and kids to the UK.
He then realised that it was a really cruel thing to do to his children.
Seriously though, he has made no effort to teach his kids his cullture or language.
I am not biologically related to Laosy's daughter, but I make every effort to improve her education, computer skills, spoken and writen English etc, and I would very much like to take her to England in a few years. But to live there? NO.

[deathstardan]

I work in an I.E.P program, in a Thai private school. What I have seen in my 7 years teaching here has convinced me that if you don't have the money for one of the very top-tier schools, you owe it to your children to take them back to your own country and get a *real* education!

I cannot state enough how bad the Thai education system is. It's doctrination that starts at nursery level. The Thai teachers are generally lazy, incompetent and despise foreign influence on their children. Really I could write a thesis on the subject.

If I ever had children, that would signal the end of my time in Los.

DsD.

[buriramboy]

Do the expats in this forum with children, move back to the West to school their children ?

Yes, moved back to the UK when my daughter was 5 back in Dec 2008 after best part of 10 years in Thailand and that was the main reason.

May i ask if you intend to return as a resident after her schooling?

Yes, she will be 7 in August, i'll be 37 next month, so a 15 year stint here in the UK is the current plan which after 10 years in Thailand i need, both the misses and kid settled in a dream when we arrived don't know why i had any worries, it was actually only me that found it hard to adjust at first with so long away, but everything great now and in all honesty i've probably never been happier, and that's after 8 years of marriage!!!!

[the dogcatcher]

Agreed deathstar.
Unfortunately I know a lot of teachers in the UK.
I don't know how these people even got o levels, let alone teaching degrees.

[buriramboy]

Agreed deathstar.
Unfortunately I know a lot of teachers in the UK.
I don't know how these people even got o levels, let alone teaching degrees.

I'd have to disagree there, while there are bad teachers everywhere in the world, i'd say in the main the majority of teachers in schools here in the UK are pretty good, although obviously i can only speak for the teachers at my daughters school, but all i know is that 18 months ago she could speak English but couldn't read or write a single word bar her name, and now she is top of her class with beautiful hand writing that puts mine to shame (not that that is saying fok all), and she gets 10/10 on her spelling tests every week, she is still only 6 and spelling test was today, these were the words....

careless, worthless, funnily, happily, sadly, replied, shouted, muttered, whispered, said.

[Bower]

Relocation,it must be a difficult and sometimes a painful decision to make but the early years are so important.

[buriramboy]

Relocation,it must be a difficult and sometimes a painful decision to make but the early years are so important.

Don't get me wrong i just sort of ended up in Thailand never had any plans to stay there, and the last thing on my mind was getting married (again) and having a kid, but things happen and when they did was always my plan to come back when she reached school age, was going to come back in mid 2007, but it all fell through so ended up coming back about 18 months later than planned but all good now and the best decision i've ever made as i'm still relatively young at 37 and i've had a great life and now time to put my daughter first and give her the best start i can and if that means 15 years in the UK for me so be it, even if you have loads of money in Thailand or are on an expat package paying the 1 million baht a year school fees for you which is what the so called top schools require with add ons i'd still question the education standards in the international/private schools compared to what you can have in the UK for FREE!!!

[the dogcatcher]

Agreed that the int schools in LOS are crap and expensive.
My prob is that the schools in UK are better than the int schools in LOS, but still not that good.
I will educate Laosy's sprog.
She is streets ahead of her school mate already, speaks better English than Laosy.
My fault, I only speak to Laosy in Thai, I only speak to sprog in English.
Perhaps I should start speaking English to both only.

[Bower]

Agreed that the int schools in LOS are crap and expensive.
My prob is that the schools in UK are better than the int schools in LOS, but still not that good.
I will educate Laosy's sprog.
She is streets ahead of her school mate already, speaks better English than Laosy.
My fault, I only speak to Laosy in Thai, I only speak to sprog in English.
Perhaps I should start speaking English to both only.

I know a guy with a 12 year old daughter, he married a French woman with a 10 year old daughter. Living here in the UK they needed away to gently become bi-ligual. So as not to put the children under unfair pressure at the onset of becoming a family unit, they spoke only French from lunch to tea time and only English from tea time to 2100hrs, weekends only, within 6 months the whole family are fluent (he is the one thats finding it difficult).

[Perota]

What is the likely situation for say teenage children of mixed marriges in Thailand ?

There must be huge Western influences in their lives,but will they follow their schoolmates or begin to question the cultre of 'face' open corruption, class structures. Are the kids heading for a difficult time as they may have a more open view of the world outside Thailand.

Do the expats in this forum with children, move back to the West to school their children ? or would this separate them from their maternal culture.

It would be interesting to hear views of the children themselves if there have been any studies.

What is better for a kid? To live in a middle class nice house in Thailand in a relatively violence-free environment or in a trailer park in the US or some nasty suburb in Europe ?

But what is your real problem, the quality of the education system (and its cost) or a culture that you're so "open minded" you cant' understand and fit in?

[MeMock]

I have two daughters. I am currently home schooling as well as making plans to return 'home'

[paranha]

I have been living in Thailand for 2,5 years now with my girlfriend - and she is not a bargirl from soi 6 (as far from it since she had a lot of respectable jobs in Patters. Most probably all the Patters guys have passed the dental clinic she has worked in for the last three-four years).

Until we took a vacation to Malaysia three or four months ago, she thought that Thailand was the paradise on earth. It took less than three days in Penang to convince her (and I said nothing about the matters) that Thailand is a total shithole. When we came back, she was quite saddened and said these words: "I don't want to live here anymore".

Both of us are moving back to Sweden in october. Both of us want to have peace, quietness and safety. Especially since children are planned. Me and my GF wants the best for our children and staying in Thailand is way down the list.

Here (I'm home on vacation) I can throw a child outside the door without anybody looking after them. I would be worried after five hours if I haven't heard anything from the rascals and phone around to check where they are and discover that they are sitting at their friends house eating dinner since they're hungry.

I can't do that in Thailand - I would be worried sick if they left my GF's eyesight or mine for more than five seconds.

We don't have to move around to find a decent school where our children will be educated and learn the virtues that's needed to function in an enlightened society (and we got eight schools in a radius of twenty clicks).
--> Until now I haven't heard much positive about thai schools - even costly foreign schools.

[Khun Custard]

Do the expats in this forum with children, move back to the West to school their children ? or would this separate them from their maternal culture.

Blower, you only have to answer one question.... do you want the child to be Thai or of your own origin? There is nothing wrong (or right) with either decision.

For me and the wife, we will be very happy to let our little girl grow up and be educated in Thailand at a best level we can afford.

The golden rule with education is always to let the child develop within the community and socio economic environment you create for yourself.

Living in a shit hole or on a budget that causes too much sacrifice for the sake of affording the kid to aquire an "old school tie"; or them spending there developing years on public transport commuting to school and away from social interaction with the neighbourhood kids is, in my opinion, the worst thing you can do for a child and the family.

[HollyGoodhead]

Can I ask what occupation you guys have to be able to pick and choose where you live?

[Chairman Mao]

and she gets 10/10 on her spelling tests every week, she is still only 6 and spelling test was today, these were the words....

careless, worthless, funnily, happily, sadly, replied, shouted, muttered, whispered, said.

Bloody hell, get her on here, would bring the level up a bit.

[Davis Knowlton]

I live in the Philippines, not Thailand, but it's pretty much the same other than the obvious language differences, which is a significant factor, no doubt. My twins are eleven (almost) and go to Montessori, which is good although I do have to deprogram the religious crap which comes with the package. I have been married for twenty years, and lived 14 of that here, and the other six in Thailand. Current plans are to keep the kids in Montessori through Grade 6, and then move them to De La Salle University for High School and the first two years of college (as High School here ends after Grade Ten, the two years of 'college' will actually give them 12 years of school, which is the equivalent of a High School diploma in the US). At that point, they will either go to the US or possible Australia for college; we'll see. No visa worries, as the wife and kids are all US citizens. Meanwhile, they have a very good tutor five nights a week, and my wife and I also work with them. My wife is a college graduate (Philippines), and I have a BA, MA, and a year of post-graduate work in the US. At the moment, I mostly work with them on US history and government, and literature, all of which are virtually ignored in their current school. This is with an eye both to getting them to know something about the US, and gearing them up for the SAT examinations (college entrance exams in the US). Given the quality of life we enjoy here, vice what living in the US would be like, it appears to be the best option. As long as they get a good college education abroad, they should have the opportunity to pursue their chosen goals in life.

[jojo333]

I have two boys 10 and 5 both are in private school here in Hua Hin and I am happy with the standard of education they are receiving. We are a 100% bilingual family, but because I spend quite a bit of time away with my work they are more in tune with Thai culture and that is fine. I have lived here for more than 23 years and I have no intention of ever leaving, we are secure financially, so the boys have no pressure on them and they will be left to choose their way in life.

[Marmite the Dog]

Until we took a vacation to Malaysia three or four months ago, she thought that Thailand was the paradise on earth. It took less than three days in Penang to convince her (and I said nothing about the matters) that Thailand is a total shithole. When we came back, she was quite saddened and said these words: "I don't want to live here anymore".

I know what you're saying. The Midget lived in Norway for a couple of years in her early 20s and would love to go back to Europe. I would rather stay around here, and would prefer Malaysia to Thailand now that we are a family. The Midget doesn't want to go to Malaysia, but she probably thinks it's the same as Thailand. I'll take her to Malaysia or Singapore one day to see what she thinks.

[Nawty]

I have two daughters. I am currently home schooling as well as making plans to return 'home'

Really ?? going home ??


I would never let my kids attend a Thai school, I would return home before that happened.

They will grow up with a mind of their own and if that causes them cultural problems...tough titties.

[ItsRobsLife]

What is better for a kid? To live in a middle class nice house in Thailand in a relatively violence-free environment or in a trailer park in the US or some nasty suburb in Europe ?

Are they your only options? Are they anybody's only options? There are plenty of nice houses in relatively violence free environments in Europe, just as there are plenty of nasty suburbs in Thailand.

[hillbilly]

My 11-year old daughter wants to go back to the states. The wife and I do not. Right now we have our fingers in a lot of pies and could not afford to move back to the states. However, in a few years my daughter will attend an American university.

The daughter attends a decent international school. She speaks American like me, and Thai like her Mom. She writes English like a native speaker but her written Thai is so-so. Thus the additional lessons.

Our big problem involves money. Here in Thailand we are able to buy our daughter just about everything she wants. She has not grown up like me or her mother where we had to wait several months for a toy. Blame this on me.

Speaking on money brings on the issue of the maid. Growing up without a maid I had to learn to cook, clean and sew. To get my daughter to do any of these chores is a royal battle that we have weekly!

Today for lunch my wife made a sandwich for the daughter. *** said she did not want to eat that kind of sandwich, and then proceded to make her own sandwich. I went nuts and threw everything on the floor and said "You either eat what is on the table or you do not eat at all". We will see how hungry she is at dinner time...

Is it safer in Thailand than our home countries? Yes and no. In the states my daughter walked to school. Not here in Bangkok. But then her gang of 5 will often spend a Saturday afternoon in the mall. Would I allow that in the states. No way.

Finally, do not even get me started on the subject on how we HAVE to respect certain people in Thailand. These are always interesting family discussions...

[jandajoy]

They will grow up with a mind of their own and if that causes them cultural problems...tough titties.

Don't see the link.

Mind of your own vs leathery, chewable, chapped breasts.

How queer.