This also told test is based on a conversation with Sandy Cacchione, a 41 -year -old Swiss woman raising her daughter in Koh Samui, Thailand. She is also the founder of Mate.travelA travel and event platform focused on the destination. It was published for duration and clarity.
I met my husband now in 2009 on a popular dive Island in Thailand.
I was on vacation from my hometown of Basel, Switzerland, when he stopped on the island to finish his Divemaster training during a A year trip around the world.
After Long -distance meeting For a year and a half, we decided to move to Koh Tao to work at the diving center where we had met for the first time. It is an island in the Gulf of Thailand, just a ferry journey since Koh Samui.
He became a diving instructor, while I started as a underwater videographer and finally became an instructor myself.
Cacchione started as an underwater videographer and finally became a diving instructor like her husband. Supplied by Sandy Cacchione.
We got married five years later, and although we loved the time we had spent on this island, we were ready to settle and start a family.
Koh SamuiMore than 10 times larger, offered the environment we are looking for, so we moved there.
It is a perfect mix of relaxed island lifestyle We love and all the amenities we need. There is a cinema, a shopping center, an international airport and hospitals and schools.
When I was pregnant, my mother moved to Samui Be close to your first grandchild. I gave birth to my daughter in 2020, who is now five years old and registered in an international kindergarten on the island.
I have a flexible daily routine
I normally put my daughter at 9 a.m. and I pick her up between 3.30 p.m. and 4 p.m.
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It is later, because the sooner she can do is at 8:30 am, but I don’t like to rush in the morning, and she no longer.
It’s a School inspired by Montessori This follows the English program.
In SwissThe school day usually starts around 8 a.m., so children must get up much earlier. In the afternoon, students usually return home for lunch. In addition, different grades have different hours.
When I visited a friend in Switzerland, his two children did not have the same lunch. Coordination is impossible; All your day revolves around your children.
Many children in Switzerland also participate in many activities. As a mother, I would probably have felt obliged to register my daughter to something.
Although there are extracurricular activities for Samui children, there is no pressure to register them. No one will say: “Oh, your child does not make a ballet?” Everyone is friendly and united.
There is less pressure to be an “Instagram mom”
Social networks Here are more trips and free yourself from a conventional lifestyle. There is nothing in “I am a perfect mom, that’s what I did today.”
When Cacchione was pregnant, his mother moved to Samui to be closer to them. Supplied by Sandy Cacchione.
Even in my daughter’s school, children are exposed to so many different cultures and learn to accept others more from an early age.
People Live in Samui tend to be more open -minded. Most of the people I met have already lived in other countries before; It is rarely their first stop.
Family activities after school are limited
When my daughter sees videos of other children playing in a park on YouTube or friends back in Europe, and she says: “Mom, can we go to the park?” I say: “Well, there is no park.”
There are interior play areas, but practically no well -kept outdoor playground or parks like those I saw in Switzerland.
Cacchione says that she sometimes has trouble finding activities adapted to children that the family can appreciate. Supplied by Sandy Cacchione.
I found that if you don’t want to do an activity, it is difficult to go somewhere and meet other families. You should know where to go or organize to meet someone somewhere.
For adolescents, it is much more difficult to find things to do. Some people hang out in the shopping center, but to move around the island can be difficult.
Walking here is not easy – it’s hot, there are not many sidewalks, and there is no public transport like buses or metros. The roads can be dangerous, so I never want my child to ride a motorcycle here.
My daughter can take advantage of being a child
They are really suitable for children here. There is so much space almost everywhere, and it can run. Even in restaurants, you never feel Shushed.
We live in the mountains, about 10 minutes from the main road. There is no road noise, and we have a beautiful view of the valley and a little of the ocean.
It’s very calm and slow, even in the morning. If I am 10 minutes behind my daughter, this is not a problem. Even as a mother, I am not stressed.
Do you have a story to share on the education of a child after having moved to a new country? Contact this journalist at there have been there was@businessinsider.com.