Any regrets reallocating family to Spain ? We are thinking to make the move but a bit worried as our children our teenegers.

Personally I think that as teenagers they would struggle academically in the Spanish school system unless they have Spanish as a second language already.

It's much easier for very young children to settle in and learn the language but I would be reluctant if it were my children to take them out of any UK school system at this stage in their education. Much better to let them finish and take their exams in UK and possibly see what they want to do then (maybe Uni, college or apprenticeship/work ) as the opportunities for work are not good in Spain at all. Particularly decent reasonably paid jobs which usually go to Spanish speakers. Pay is not so good as UK either.

Depending where you want to live in Spain, if it's not a big city then they may be 'small town' bored and even if you are happy in Spain it could be a problem for them as time goes on . 

We had friends who returned to UK after a few years because of their teenage children. One of the kids particularly kept going back to stay with Grandparents and could not settle in the school and eventually they all returned rather than split up the family.

It's worth thinking about. Spain is a lovely country but for older children still in education it may be a difficult transition after the first few months fun of pools and beaches etc wears off.

Thank you Jan,

We were looking for magic trick how to relocate teenegers but I guess need to wait for seven years or so.?

Sorry  LOL - Hopefully you will get a more encouraging post about relocating teenagers to Spain from those who have done this successfully.

Sometimes it's good to get both sides to give food for thought- It no doubt depends on the Teenagers themselves but inherently teenagers are not always the most adaptable (for those few teenage years anyway) - Whereby younger or older (non school age) children may be. It also depends on whether you are happy to take that chance - Obviously only you know your kids but maybe find out more about the Spanish secondary school system too. 

We moved 6 months ago. I have 2 teenagers 15-17 who wanted to stay in the uk. (Grandparents) and my youngest 10 moved with us. 

He is thriving and almost fluent. Again thrown into Spanish school playing with all Spanish friends and being young. 

He has learnt fast. And never wants to return to uk. 

So in short. Let the kids decide. Or at least have a big input. 

My advice.  

Spain is a great country to retire to if you don't need to work.  I have been here 13 years now and would not want to return to the UK. However, for teenagers you need to think of their future job prospects.   If they have no ambition and are happy to wait on tables or serve as bar staff (when needed) then great.  Other than that I don't think there are may opportunities for teenagers here. Even those that have been educated here and are fluent struggle with permanent work.  I don't see it as a good future for them. Sorry, if I sound negative, just trying to be realistic! 

I agree with the post above - Not something most people thinking of relocatiing to Spain with children want to hear, but it is true and best to take this into account at the 'thinking' stage rather than later and regret it later when the kids are trying to find the type of job you and they would really like to have...no matter how clever or fluent in Spanish they are. There''s certainly not the job / career prospects in Spain that there are in the UK.

Although we are retired, I am friendly with a young man, now 19, who was brought here at around 12 years of age. Although now obviously fluent in Spanish, I asked him how he had felt having to attend school here and having effectively to think in two languages. He told me that it had been incredibly difficult and he found his education had suffered tremendously as a result; he also said that another difficulty was that neither of his parents spoke any Spanish so were completely unable to be of help with his homework. He now is struggling to find any meaningful work, beyond the usual menial tasks and I think he is likely, unfortunately to sink rather than be successful. The other language problem in this region is of course that most of the Spanish speak Valenciano amongst themselves, which is an added confusion. My young friend now says that of course he semi-understands most of it, but does not speak it. So my suggestion would be to be prepared for a lot of very hard work for the entire family - and to think twice about upsetting your children’s education.

Thank you so much all of you for your input on relocating my teenegers to Spain.

For this past couple of days we have discussed  this a lot with my husband ....hearing other people experience is really helpful .

Hi Nicola, did your girls speak little Spainish before they came to country?