the expat mum blues

Ever have a friend you like as a person but totally disagree with them as a parent? or the other way around? 

As an expat mum of young kids, a lot of the acquaintances I make are through the kids' kindergarten on the school playground. So it happens that I might quite like a person until -  Bam! I see her interact with her child and then realize that we have totally different values on quite important things. This becomes totally blatant if the said mother's child hits/snatches/kicks one of mine/somebody else's kid and the mother does not intervene at all or ineffectively. Believe it or not, it actually puts quite a strain on the (potential) relationship.

On the other hand, you can also spend time with mums who share similar values in terms of child rearing (and whose kids have a happy friendship with mine) but with whom you might not share a great deal with otherwise. 

I guess this goes with the play-date territory and it is certainly exacerbated by the fact that E & W attend an International School where all kinds of nationalities and cultures showcase many different values and ways.  In a non-expat situation I imagine this is balanced out by the fact that you still manage to see your school-day/work-day friends more.

Right now, my favorite people to talk to are my hairdresser, my pediatrician, (who are both Mums) my yoga teacher (a Mum and grandmum) and my pilates teacher (trying to have kids).... Perhaps because parental values are not tested through hard reality with these people and because we mostly talk about other things. I've also realized these are working people who are not spending their days just shopping, cooking, child minding, gossiping, making themselves beautiful etc.  Oh! how I sometimes wish I could have a another job than being a full time expat mum. 

Here is quite a good talk with my beloved child psychotherapist, Rachel Melville-Thomas,  on how to help children choose good friends.

Emma on her way to a birthday party

 William food shopping with Mum - he loves fruit!

some perks of an expat spouse life

Last year, mainly because of the disaster area our first flat in Vienna turned out to be and Emma and I consequently spending 5 months in Geneva, we didn't really get out and about much as a family. This year, we're planning on visiting a few places and people before we head off for our yearly sea-side in Croatia hopefully in sunny September.*

Like for example, this month, Emma and I will be visiting family in Belgrade (I hear it's as snowed in as Vienna is) and more family and friends in Geneva in March (hopefully spring will be right around the corner by then) and then, in April, we're going to join Steph and extend his working week abroad to a week-end play... in Istanbul. **
The exciting thing is that Emma and I can take a day to visit friends in sunny Izmir!!!

After all, Emma-in-my-belly spent quite some time there and it's only right that she should meet the friends whose voices she heard, taste the salads at Café Brownie's once again (...and maybe even a delicious cheese börek by our then obgyn's office or any of the yummiest fresh fruit and veg... I'm getting hungry must be dinner time!)
I knew this not-working-outside-the-home-expat-spouse status had some advantages...


* and maybe even somewhere sunny and warm next year so as to make the winter seem ever so slightly shorter ... but that's for 2010...
** oh and April in Istanbul 5 years ago is when we decided to get married! Seems like it was at least a century ago so many things have happened since!!!