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The company I work for will soon open an office in Dubai and I will relocate there from Europe with (hopefully!) my wife and our two kids (four and one year old). My wife says that Dubai is not good place where to bring up two young kids because of too hot weather, trafic, pollution, education offer, etc. My salary package is not an issue at this stage. I have much appreciated the posts by dbxsoul and I will be happy to hear from those with similar family experience/concerns. Thanks, Mastertribute

Hi there

I have two young children (3 and 10 months). Yes there are most certainly pro’s and con’s to both sides of the argument, but in my experience the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

To address some of your concerns:

Schooling, the UAE has both British and American curriculum schools although it is expensive. There are plenty of things for toddlers to do from swimming lessons to private pre-school activities.

Traffic, bad yes, normally restricted to office hour traffic, the weekends are okay, but sometimes still congested. Unless you are going to be on the road a lot for business, then this is not really a point of argument.

Pollution, mostly dust; yes, I’d say that there is an unhealthy amount of other pollutants in the air, but I would not say that it was more polluted than any other European city. The haze (because of the humidity) in summer, combined with the dust does seem to make it look worse than it really is. Areas such as Fujaraih, where they do process oil and gas products yes, I’d concur there are much higher levels of airborne pollutants.

Weather, summer is a bastard; tempered by the fact that everything is air-conditioned. It is however restrictive with respect to family or recreational activities. A lot of expat’s wife’s leave during the summer months as they have their main school holiday over this time as well. A nice, almost 3 month break – enough to drive most housewives with small children insane
Air-conditioning can be a negative for small children, nosebleeds because of the dry air and sometimes breathing problems can occur, but can normally be fixed by using a humidifier

Crime basically non-existent.
Standard of living, expensive, but pretty good by most measures.
Generally speaking good, decent moral standards (I did say generally ;D)
Multi-cultural environment, in most international schools there are anywhere between 80 and 100 different nationalities represented – kids don’t normally get this type of cultural exposure.

The other aspect to consider is that you’d be coming to the UAE for a particular reason, probably to earn cash which ultimately will give you a step up in life or secure your families financial future, sometimes the bigger picture needs to be looked at and small sacrifices made.

Thanks for your time and advice, dbxsoul. Once again you have posted useful information for the benefit of everyone. You are my lighthouse on my way to Dubai. mastertribute

Hello, I am bringing my family to Dubai for the very opposite reasons. I thing that its a perfectly reasonable place to bring my boy up.

He is 4 now and starting school. There are better schools in Dubai than anything the UK councils can offer. We cant afford private education in the UK but the tax free benefits of UAE allow me to do just that here.

Crime is steadily on the increase in London, and its an incredibly worrying statistic that youth crime in particular is rife. This is an important factor of the move.

Pollution is bad in any city, I agree with dbx. Dubai simply offers different challenges.

The bottom line for me is quality of life, and ultimately thats better in Dubai than (personally) than London.

I moved here from Vegas about 7 months ago. I have 4 and 2 year old. There are many pros and cons. I'll describe them from my perspective for a relatively short period of time.

Pros;

1. A tax free salary. More disposable income on hand.
2. Kids going to private American school, couldn't afford it in the US especially for 2 kids.
3. A live in nanny which is a dream come true. We would think twice about going out in Vegas because of babbysitter cost. First its hard to find a reliable one and then it could be very expensive.
4. Multicultural. You get to meet and know a lot of different nationalties and appreciate their culture. I thought the US was a melting pot and very diverse but its even more so here though ot could be negative at times.
5. Gasoline is very cheap compared to the US.
6. A very kids friendly shopping malls. Every mall has a place where you can leave your kids with their nanny and you go do whatever you want.
7. A lot of family activities e-g indoor skiing, ice skating, water parks etc
8. Vibrant night life
9. All kinds of international cuisine.
10. Zero crime, guns, alcohol, drugs, gangs in school. In the States I heard school shootings almost on a weekly basis and worried about my kids when thet get to that age.

Cons;

1. Outrageous rents. The amount were paying on a 2 bdrm apartment, you could rent a mantion back home. We definetly miss our house in Vegas, which we still own, with a backyard and a swimming pool.
2. Bad traffic. Not only congestions but rude drivers with terrible driving. Dubai roads have one of the highest fatality rates in the world.
3. Aweful summer. You can't go anywhere outside for 4 months. Even though everything is airconditioned but that gets old. Your dripping from head to toe the minute you step out of your vehicle or building. Its the humidity that makes it much much worse. I was used to Vegas heat but it was dry heat where you don't sweat at all.
4. A lot of red tape invloved in everything you deal with. They have 21st century equipment with the 18th century attitude.
5. Bad customer service in general.
6. Incompetent people everywhere you go.
7. A class system that will make you uncomfortable and make you feel guilty at times.

Overall its not a bad place to raise your family. For me its early to say how long I'll stay here. Currently I like my job and the project I'm working on. A couple of high profile international projects will look impressive on my resume when I decide to go back.

wow, i have not this similar family.. but Dubai is a nice place to be. And with these advantages i luv dubai

My 2 cents on the issue:

1) With most and both parents working late, kids ar enormally on their own. And you know very well what kids on their own are upto. Parents feeling guilty will shower gifts and money on kids to make up for the time they dont spend with their kids.....and you know the rest. Kids get corrupted. You can guess very well what a bunch of cash laden kids with adult supervision will be upto.

2) It is very well known that kids left alone succumb to peer pressure and resort to all sort of nonense. bullying other kids, fights between groups, sex, internet misuse and what not.

3) Most and I do mean most families have housemaids and these are normally the ones who bring up the kids. Kids are more attached to them and are totally detached from the parents. This is a well known phenomenen.

4) The journey time to schools is downright ridiculous. i personally know kids who leave the house as early as 4.30am. 2 to 3 hours commuting in the bus alone is common. This is because the residential , commercial and school zoning is not efficient. schools of different nationalities are all over the place.

So dubai is definitely out as far as bringing up kids is concerned.

michaeldubai wrote:My 2 cents on the issue:

1) With most and both parents working late, kids ar enormally on their own. And you know very well what kids on their own are upto. Parents feeling guilty will shower gifts and money on kids to make up for the time they dont spend with their kids.....and you know the rest. Kids get corrupted. You can guess very well what a bunch of cash laden kids with adult supervision will be upto.

2) It is very well known that kids left alone succumb to peer pressure and resort to all sort of nonense. bullying other kids, fights between groups, love, internet misuse and what not.

3) Most and I do mean most families have housemaids and these are normally the ones who bring up the kids. Kids are more attached to them and are totally detached from the parents. This is a well known phenomenen.

4) The journey time to schools is downright ridiculous. i personally know kids who leave the house as early as 4.30am. 2 to 3 hours commuting in the bus alone is common. This is because the residential , commercial and school zoning is not efficient. schools of different nationalities are all over the place.

So dubai is definitely out as far as bringing up kids is concerned.

Michael,
You sound frustrated because you see everyone else doing this and don't agree with it, and/or you yourself have also succumbed to the pressure and are venting your guilt fueled stress.
It is quite easy to get caught up in the whole Dubai thing. But when you go to coffee mornings and listen to the Jane's talk about how stressed they are with getting their hair and nails done in between shopping for new shoes, you just need to focus on your own life instead of their's.

Unlike elsewhere, in Dubai we have an opportunity to avoid problems associated with both parents working and it is each person's choice whether they make the most of it or not.

Here are the solutions to your issues:

1). One parent can normally earn enough money to allow the other to stay home and look after the kids.
Instead of showering them with money, spend some quality time together.

2). Get them involved in sport and other activities outside school. These normally cost you an arm and a leg since everyone is out to make a buck... but you are correct that this is better then having them sit around doing nothing. And they won't be as exposed to drug peer pressure, knife crime etc as elsewhere, big plus.

3). Refer back to point 1). Just because you don't have to work, doesn't mean that you can now get a housemaid to bring up the rugrats whilst you go shopping, get your nails done and bonk the fitness instructor.
Getting a housemaid gives you more free time. How you use it is up to you. You didn't need a housemaid to carry your handbag before you came to Dubai so why now?

4). Travel to and from school is a major problem for some people. The easy solution is to move somewhere closer to the school or put them in a school close to you. If it is such a big problem, it is very easy to fix and you have 5 years to plan for it.

BTW, I am not criticizing you because I think that you share the same ideals. I get just as angry about the lack of love towards children in Dubai and selfish behaviour of parents.

benwj, did I sound frustrated? I am not yet married so have not gone through it yet. What I put down was what I observed/witnessed around me and get from people discussing. Its all over the radio, news, office talk, party talk.

What you have provided is the perfect solution - but only if people - parents - would actually apply it. In reality, hardly anyone in Dubai does - which is why what you see is "what you see".