Settling Down in the UK

You’ve made the decision to move to the UK and want to start a family. Bringing your children up in the UK provides them with great opportunities.

There are plenty of things you can do to make the transition easier, such as learning the language and experiencing UK culture. This guide explores some key aspects to consider when starting a family in the UK.

Learning to Speak the English Language

Union Jack flagIt’s important for all the family to get a good grasp of the language. Children pick things up very quickly by being around other UK children. In fact, there are plenty of ways for everyone to improve their language skills, such as taking English courses. If you’re looking for a good English school London has plenty.

Get out and about to practice your skills. Talk to people in shops, learn how to order food in restaurants and ask for directions. You could also sit down together to catch programmes on British TV and radio.

Immerse yourself in UK culture

Learn all about the culture by throwing yourself in from the start. Visit restaurants and cafes to sample a traditional English breakfast or fish and chips by the seaside. Take your children to the football to experience the electric atmosphere.

See a show, shop on the high street and go for lunch in a traditional British pub. It’s customary to celebrate key dates in the UK too. Kids will love the fireworks on Bonfire Night and singing Auld Lang Syne on New Year’s Eve.

UK schools

Fish and chipsChildren go through two stages of schooling in the UK. Primary education starts at age four to five and continues until age 11, when the children move into secondary education. Before primary education begins, children can attend nursery schools. After secondary education they can move onto further education.

The UK has a state funded system, where children are educated for free up until age 18. There’s a huge private school system also in place. At school your children will get a good education, interact with other children and make friends.

Family in two different countries

Moving away from extended family can be hard, but having family in two different countries can have positives. Your children may have the opportunity to visit family often and gain experience of different cultures.

Having a UK base also means your family can visit you. Show the family around your new home and let your children tell them all about life in the UK.

Raising children bilingually

Children can master two languages when taught early on. There are many benefits for bilingual children. Speaking two languages gives the opportunity to transfer knowledge from one to another, which aids learning.

Communicating in two languages can also give children a boost later in life. It may be that they find learning additional languages more easy. Being able to communicate in different languages can also be an advantage in their future careers.


Money Comes Back to You

Change starts from within and if you want to be environmentally friendly, it is in your power to make something for the cause. Business recycling is growing in popularity, and many entrepreneurs are now using advanced solutions to minimize the amount of junk created and to recycle as much of it as possible.

Business recyclingIt all begins with a preliminary analysis that tells you how much waste is produced on a daily basis and what is its nature. Knowing these facts, it is much easier to determine what kind of bins you should order and how to sort stuff before throwing it inside those bins. A waste assessment can be done individually or by hiring a professional, usually the same one that will provide you with the bins and the means to recycle.

Once you determine the amount, size and nature of the bins the next step is to estimate how frequent the collection should be. All these things do matter and will streamline the business recycling, but ultimately what is really important is to educate those working inside the office. They need to pay attention to where they throw the junk and which are the things that can be recycled.


Itchy to Go Shopping

Like those days, when I used to be a passionate shopaholic on a constrained budget; I recently saw myself in that state again, just itching to go shopping for my weekend trip to northern part of California. Sunday alone, the weather is expected to be warmer – I found it was a clean excuse for me to embark on shopping. Well, you may say that I do not really have to look for a reason to do so though; but right now, I think I do.

skinny jeansAll along, I’ve been itching to get jeggings or skinny jeans to see how I look on them – luckily, I also saw a perfectly matching crimson long sweater. I got the sweater at Banana Republic (a fairly expensive clothing outfit).

I also explored Zara and Mango – picking some seemingly suitable items and trying out each one to see how it fits. Meanwhile, I had my eyes glued on my wrist watch since my boys would soon get back home from grandma.

The sweater with the skinny jeans was perfect when I locked myself in the dressing room to try it on. The jeggings seemed to be smaller for me (being a thirtyist old woman – not on the big side, but bigger than what I was some years back). Little did I know that the jeggings were created from Lycra denim material – best described as ‘skin-sucking’ jeans.

In fact, satan’s gofers must have hand-loomed those jeggings themselves! They could hardly pass my ankles – they couldn’t even be forced over my calves. Panic gripped me; since I couldn’t peel them off the lower part of my legs, I decided to peel upwards. It doesn’t matter to me if I rip it off my body – it would be better to do so and pay for it than suffocate myself with those skins sucking jeggings.

credit: Louisa Stokes