大咖福利影院

Ingrid_Pimsner wrote:

BUT I HATE the way strangers on the street TOUCH your child or CRITICIZE your parenting constantly. I am sick of old ladies coming up to me EVERY FIVE SECONDS and saying "why doesn't your child have a hat on?!! Pick up your child!!" or coming up and grabbing my child and me and zipping up her coat, or berating me for not putting on a million layers on her. We are from Boston. This is not cold for us! My daughter is a toddler and she gets hot! Stop touching me!!

This can be found to happen in most countries, learn to smile and thank them for pointing it out to you.

Robin & Sue wrote:

Even the Romanian men here have their ears bent by tiny old women & have to put up with it. Just smile sweetly & carry on doing as you wish. Spring will soon be here!

Exactly, see my post above.

Priscilla wrote:

Hello everyone,

How is raising kids in Romania different from raising kids in your home country?

What are the activities that your kids seem to enjoy the most in Romania?

Do you feel that the country is "family-friendly"?

Do you recommend Romania as a good place to raise kids? Why or why not?

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Priscilla

Personally, I don't believe Romania is a family friendly country at all.聽 Very few businesses, such as restaurants for example, consider families in their offerings.聽 In the USA, many restaurants offer children's menus and smaller lower priced portions, activity pages to distract them, etc....that's virtually unheard of here, or ignored in the interest of economics.聽 I have been to 2 restaurants here in Iasi that offered small play areas for kids, but that's it.聽

Also, as another member mentioned, many local mothers/grandmothers feel inclined to intervene and offer their opinions about your family, which I feel to be invasive and inappropriate also.聽 They seem to believe it's their right and obligation to publicly accost a parent for not having a kid bundled up in 25C weather in the Spring, or allowing a child to have ice cream in the summer, or allowing fresh air to come through a window.聽 At the same time, according to a new , over half of parents/grandparents in Romania feel it's fine to hit their children, and even more verbally abuse them, they don't believe it is abuse.聽 While their beliefs don't mean that I must follow along, I certainly don't.....but through these examples, kids are learning that this is an appropriate way to interact with others and this behavior propagates.聽 I don't want my kids exposed to this bad behavior, and the silly myths that so many strongly believe in here.

I really can't say that Romania is a good place to raise kids overall, which is in part why we will be leaving in the coming months.聽 The education system is not good at all, schools emphasize competition and individual achievement over teamwork and goodwill.聽 It's either you're the best, or you're worthless and I've seen far too many instructors and teachers publicly humiliate and degrade children, and I just don't believe that's a correct way to educate and inspire children. The exception to this is when the parents are those of status or wealth.聽 Kids are overloaded with homework and have less and less time for personal interests or socializing.聽 Kindergartens insist on forcing kids to memorize and recite the same useless poems my wife learned 30 years ago, but won't spend time on writing and reading or even counting beyond ten.聽 We've been to several kindergartens, and it's the same amongst them all.聽 I realize my comments are generalizations, I do recognize that there are some good schools and teachers out there, but they are the minority unfortunately.

My daughter has enjoyed some of the free classes at the Palace of Children in Iasi, she's taken classes in painting, sculpture and acting.聽 She's also been active in Capoeira and Swimming at local clubs which we've paid a quite reasonable cost.聽 Unfortunately sports and hobby offerings are quite limited here compared to cities in the USA, but we've tried to make do with what we can get.聽 We are looking forward to better opportunities back in the US though.

Health care, as it applies to children....I also cannot recommend.聽 Far too many doctors here wrongfully prescribe antibiotics (to anyone, not only children), and in some cases aren't able to properly diagnose serious medical conditions.聽 As a result, my son had to endure a serious medical issue for an extended period of time; it didn't get addressed properly and resolved until I took him to the states for evaluation and surgery.聽 Doctors here said that he was simply seeking attention, that it was a psychological or parenting issue.聽 When I came back and explained the diagnosis and what was done to my GP here, including showing her CT scans and surgical notes, she tried to discredit the surgeon and maintained her incorrect opinion which lacked any clinical evidence.

So to those considering a move here, especially with smaller kids....think carefully about what may await here.

Barniii wrote:

its not family friendly country.
try in other country i advice.

One line answers aren't too useful.聽 Maybe you can explain why you say this and give some of your own experience please?