# Moving to Zaragoza with young family



## Hehanee (May 11, 2012)

My husband has an opportunity to move to Zaragoza for 9 months to study. I am due with our second child in December and our first is almost 4. Can anyone tell me about healthcare in Spain? How do we pay for health services? Where should i look for maternity care? Should i stay in the US until after the birth and then meet up with my husband? Are there kindergarden classes for my 4 year old to meet friends? Is it safe? Do you feel the current economic situation in Spain still makes it a safe place to bring my children?
Thanks for any help!


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## CampoKid (Mar 29, 2012)

Have your baby in the US. The post-natal support here is basic, and if you don´t have your family or some very reliable friends around, you may find it a struggle.

We know this from experience and it has partly led us to the decision to move to Germany, to be closer to my OH´s family.

The other reasons being that there is no future here for children, the education system is a joke, and we feel that things are going to go very wrong for Spain in the next 12 months, and we don´t want our child to go through his formulative years in a country that has imploded under its own stupidity. Take a peek at what is happening in Greece...


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Hehanee said:


> My husband has an opportunity to move to Zaragoza for 9 months to study. I am due with our second child in December and our first is almost 4. Can anyone tell me about healthcare in Spain? How do we pay for health services? Where should i look for maternity care? Should i stay in the US until after the birth and then meet up with my husband? Are there kindergarden classes for my 4 year old to meet friends? Is it safe? Do you feel the current economic situation in Spain still makes it a safe place to bring my children?
> Thanks for any help!


you would need to check exactly the terms of your husband's visa - he might be entitled to state healthcare & therefore you would normally be too, as his dependents

yes Spain is safe for children - I have lived in the US & feel that my children are much safer here 

9 months is really just a long holiday, isn't it - so the economic climate & economic future of the country is hardly an issue, is it?


healthcare generally is good, & most women have their babies in hospital - if you are entitled to state cover then this maternity care would be arranged by the local centro de salud.

children can start school at age 3 in most areas here - but again, it depends on the exact terms of your husband's visa as to whether or not you'll be able to use the state system

there are usually lots of private facilities though


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

CampoKid said:


> Have your baby in the US. The post-natal support here is basic, and if you don´t have your family or some very reliable friends around, you may find it a struggle.
> 
> We know this from experience and it has partly led us to the decision to move to Germany, to be closer to my OH´s family.
> 
> The other reasons being that there is no future here for children, the education system is a joke, and we feel that things are going to go very wrong for Spain in the next 12 months, and we don´t want our child to go through his formulative years in a country that has imploded under its own stupidity. Take a peek at what is happening in Greece...


they are coming for 9 months..................................


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

CampoKid said:


> Have your baby in the US. The post-natal support here is basic, and if you don´t have your family or some very reliable friends around, you may find it a struggle.
> 
> We know this from experience and it has partly led us to the decision to move to Germany, to be closer to my OH´s family.
> 
> The other reasons being that there is no future here for children, the education system is a joke, and we feel that things are going to go very wrong for Spain in the next 12 months, and we don´t want our child to go through his formulative years in a country that has imploded under its own stupidity. Take a peek at what is happening in Greece...


I wouldn't say it's a joke. It's got plenty of faults for sure, but my daughter's just completed 14 years of education in the Spanish system and is far more accomplished than her 4 British cousins who left school with literally a couple of "O" levels between them and a serious attitude problem (see Jojo's post about the UK for more info on that!). She'll be doing PAU soon and on to uni in Sep.
Also I've just spent a gruelling day examining teenagers for Cambridge Examining Board in the outskirts of Madrid in a bilingual state school . We didn't fail anyone! At 13/14 years old those kids can hold their own giving opinions, debating, talking about their studies, families, towns..., and I'm not just taking about sentences like "I live in XXX" No, it's more like "I live in XXX, a large town on the outskirts of Madrid. It's really boring and I'd prefer to live nearer Madrid because... I was very pleasantly surprised.
There's a lot wrong with the bilingual system, teacher training, resources, methodology and content. On the other hand, some kids do well out of it - just as some kids do well in the UK. A lot more kids however, could get a lot more out of both of the systems , if govenments were only to put a little thought and investment into education


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