Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Hi,

I'm new here. Sorry if this has been discussed to death.

We are considering a move to Dubai, and being embarrassingly ignorant about Dubai, I have to ask if it is a good place to bring up very young children.


How do expat wives spend their free time with their children?

ChunkyMonkey wrote:Hi,

I'm new here. Sorry if this has been discussed to death.

We are considering a move to Dubai, and being embarrassingly ignorant about Dubai, I have to ask if it is a good place to bring up very young children.


How do expat wives spend their free time with their children?

michael jackson is in kindom of Bahrain not in Dubai so don't worry ! kidding

serious answer = Dubai is quite nice place in all aspects ! so just relax

expat wives spend their free time in shopping centers with their children. You will see a lot of screaming kids running around the shopping centers here.

FeiPo wrote:a lot of screaming kids running around the shopping centers here.

Oh dear ... Does that mean everyone is bored? There is no fun hanging out at shopping centres, unless there are indoor play area for the little ones.

I'm probably biased, having grown up here, but I think Dubai is a great place for kids! There is just so much to keep children occupied...check out http://www.expatmums.com/

Thank you Nik for your post.

Someone nice like yourself posted the link to me last night, and I am browsing it as I post this.

I would like to get in touch with members here who are now living in Dubai with their family/children. I would be lovely to get personal accounts.

At home kids have to be within your view and at arms length at all times but here during the school hols I saw kids of 10 to 12 going to the pictures on their own. My kids are safe and people are really nice to them and in shopping centre play areas you can pay and leave them....yes, I am serious!! while you do your shopping. Also I walk our dog at night time and don't feel at all frightened. I would never walk my dog at night alone at home. The heat in the last couple of months has been terrible esp. coming from a wet winter at home but there are things to do for kids and there is always swimming. I know people often leave here for the summer and return just before school starts. I think you'll find people really nice....I've only struck a few rude people and mainly expat women in Spinneys who seem to have lost the ability to smile and ask assistants questions politely....by the way I too am an expat but it just amazes me sometimes how people think if they speak loudly and slowly someone will understand them more clearly. Some people don't realise how good they have it!!

By the way FeiPo some of those screaming kids are with their maids, while ma'am gets her nails done hence the term Jumeirah Jane!

There is an enormous amount here for younger children to do, but I understand from parents that things can be a little dull for teens, especially older teens.

Also things like "Saturday jobs" are illegal for school age kids, and things like underage drinking and smoking are much more serious offenses here.

But for little ones, this place would be a kind of paradise: so many fun parks, festival activities, etc.

GAB wrote:At home kids have to be within your view and at arms length at all times but here during the school hols I saw kids of 10 to 12 going to the pictures on their own. My kids are safe and people are really nice to them and in shopping centre play areas you can pay and leave them....yes, I am serious!! while you do your shopping. Also I walk our dog at night time and don't feel at all frightened. I would never walk my dog at night alone at home. The heat in the last couple of months has been terrible esp. coming from a wet winter at home but there are things to do for kids and there is always swimming. I know people often leave here for the summer and return just before school starts. I think you'll find people really nice....I've only struck a few rude people and mainly expat women in Spinneys who seem to have lost the ability to smile and ask assistants questions politely....by the way I too am an expat but it just amazes me sometimes how people think if they speak loudly and slowly someone will understand them more clearly. Some people don't realise how good they have it!!

If everyone like you will drop their kids in the play areas b4 they go into spinneys and letting their kids pushing the trolleys around, screeming and running that will be good. Don't get me wrong, I like kids and I don;t mind they are screeming and running around but it got to be in the right place like the play areas, not in Spinneys or Star bucks. I think people should aware that it is dangerous to let theirs kids running around supermarkets or coffee shops.

GAB wrote:by the way I too am an expat but it just amazes me sometimes how people think if they speak loudly and slowly someone will understand them more clearly. Some people don't realise how good they have it!!

Hahahaha I totally agree with you... I am an Asian and my bf is British and he talks to me like that sometimes when I didn't hear what he said the first time then he will repeated himsef very slow and very loud. I feel like I was retarded when he does that especially in front of people.

One example, he was eating ice-cream the other night, and I ask him what ice-cream is it... than he told me it is Rum n Rasin, i didn't catch it the first time so the second time he repeated in a very slow, loud and flat tone. Man... i was trying to explain to him that maybe my english isn't perfect but i am not retarded, ... by saying the same things over again slower and louder won't not make me understand more what you are trying to say. If i don't know what is rasin and what is rum doesn't matter you repeat 100 times i will still have no clue what you are talking about. Sooooo, next time if i don't understand what is rasin say grape instead, when i don't understand rum say it is alcohol.

so please people, if we don't understand then we don't, no need to repeat the same things louder and slower for 10 times, you only need to rephrase your words. If we don't understand what is a mug, say a cup.

FeiPo, when their kids trip they'd be the first to sue!! Those trolleys really get to me....little brats smacking into your ankles at warp speed! Mind you adults leaving their trolleys in the middle of an aisle and walking off in Union Co-op is an interesting one....no mind if someone actually wants to go down the aisle!! Ahhh...enough whinging for one morning!!

Dubai is definately children friendly but if you plan to be here until you children are teenagers then it's rubbish as they cant work till there 18 an they waste time and money on alcohol.