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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not want my 19 year old moving to Canada alone?

585 replies

MiddayMass · 15/11/2021 02:19

She has 0 connections in Canada. She isn’t particularly academic and uni is her idea of hell but works in hospitality and thrives in that role. The restaurant she works at offered her a manager on duty promotion not long after she started because of how on the ball she is.

All her friends went off to uni in September and I think she’s feeling like it’s time to make a drastic change in her own life too. Which I understand. I thought maybe she’d move into a house share with other young people or something.

Today over dinner she revealed that Canada do a 2 year ‘Working Holiday’ visa for certain countries. You don’t need to be a professional or have a degree, you can go over and work in hospitality just fine. As long as you have somewhere to live, a couple of grand in the bank (she has savings) and health insurance you’re fine. She’s says she’s been looking into it and has already signed up with an agency and has paid fees to go and work on a ski resort this Winter with live-in accommodation. She’s insisted it’s all legit and that she has done all of her research.

To be honest, I smiled about it to her face but I’m scared shitless. Do such jobs actually exist? I’m worried it’s dodgy. She will have no connections in Canada. She insists that the agency has in-country support and that she’s in a Facebook group with other girls her own age who are going to the same town, and that they all plan to meet up once they are there etc. There’s even talk of some of them maybe getting a flat-share as she doesn’t want to be in the hotel accommodation for the full 2 years. She honestly doesn’t seem worried at all. I’m not sure why she chose Canada specifically. Apparently Europe wasn’t drastic enough, she’s not interested in Asia or Africa, Oceania is too far from home and she ‘wouldn’t be seen dead in the USA in its current state’ so she ended up with Canada.

DH isn’t happy either and says he’ll be worried about her, and has suggested that we try and talk her out of it. I don’t want to do that as she is an adult but I am terrified. How would you feel? I never really left my home town or travelled. At DD’s age I was pregnant with her brother and living in a flat 5 minutes away from my parents and so the idea of jetting off to another continent alone at that age is unthinkable to me. I’m not saying I’d rather she was pregnant at 19 living in a grotty flat, I just mean it’s all so foreign to me because I was in such a different situation at her age so I don’t know if my fear is rational or not.

OP posts:
MiddayMass · 15/11/2021 18:52

@Puzzledandpissedoff

It really annoyed both me and DD. If it was genuinely just a case of being worried and wanting reassurance he’d have been more than happy to look at DD’s phone when she was trying to show him it was all legit. She showed me some stuff this morning it reassured me.

It does still come from a place of worry, but he’s actively trying to put her off and sabotage it for her. He doesn’t actually want reassurance, because that would mean accepting her going.

OP posts:
Opi2345 · 15/11/2021 18:46

I have done that. I was 19 when I arrived in the UK on my own!

PickupaPenguin8 · 15/11/2021 18:45

Your daughter sounds fantastic.

shylatte · 15/11/2021 18:43

Be happy for her OP. I come from a similar sounding insular town (although uni was the norm) and me and my siblings left at the first opportunity. Parents are still there and it's bad enough having to go back to visit them. It's great that your dd is trying to spread her wings!

Cavagirl · 15/11/2021 18:39

@CSJobseeker completely agree. It's really sad the limitations adults can put on children/young adults simply through their expectations. This thread is a really good (live!) example of how your environment and what others say is acceptable can shape your own aspirations.

Well done OP for starting it and looking for different views. No doubt your daughter gets her curiosity from somewhere Grin

Puzzledandpissedoff · 15/11/2021 18:33

We’re from quite an insular small town. It’s only in the past 10 years I’d say that going to uni stopped being unusual for the kids from the town. The norm here is settled with kids by 25 ... Anybody from the town who strives for better gets a “Who do they bloody think they are?” attitude

I'm sure it's a lovely place for those who enjoy living like this, but clearly your DD wants something different and I really don't blame her

Sorry, but your DH sounds pathetic, and refusing even to look at the info she has was especially spiteful. I wonder if it would help to tell him his attitude is exactly the sort of thing that's driving her to do this?

CSJobseeker · 15/11/2021 18:31

@cavagirl Fair enough, maybe a teacher or friend?

I think it's bloody brilliant wherever she got the idea from. When I was that age, I believed so many of the myths about what a WC girl like me could/should aspire to. As an adult I've had to unlearn it all. Good for this girl for sticking two fingers up to it.

FoxtrotSkarloey · 15/11/2021 18:31

It's fantastic to see how you've warmed to the idea. It sounds like she's approaching is responsibly and it really could be the making of her. Hopefully your DH will come round.

And what's the worst that can happen? I lost my wallet on my first night in Bogotá when I was 19! And it was pre online banking and pre Internet. That was an experience Grin. But I survived.

2bazookas · 15/11/2021 18:30

Here's an idea; she goes to Canada for 2 years and you get a passport, save up, and take a trip to Canada to see her.

It would do you a world of good.

Lasair · 15/11/2021 18:29

When is she going!?

Wombat49 · 15/11/2021 18:23

Canada is a fab place to visit. Really friendly people, lovely country.

Cavagirl · 15/11/2021 18:18

@CSJobseeker if you've followed the thread you'll see I've been extremely positive throughout, of course it's not weird. My train of thought was, given what OP had said about the small town scenario and this being unusual for their background, I was wondering if she'd had some encouragement from a friend, other family member or somewhere else that's opened her eyes to the wider possibilities and opportunities that she might not otherwise had seen. A bit like PP referring to her great grandmother pushing her to aspire and not simply accept her lot. If such a relationship exists for OP's daughter it should definitely be encouraged. Something or someone has opened her mind to a life beyond the false boundaries others have set for her which is brilliant.

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 15/11/2021 18:09

I worked as a chambermaid in Switzerland for a bit as a teenager. Amazing experience and your daughter doesn't even have to use a different language. If she's done her research (and it sounds like it) then talk to her about it; she sounds really keen and like a very sensible young woman. Be proud of yourself for raising her!

MiddayMass · 15/11/2021 18:08

@Double3xposure

I wish! I’m almost 50 Grin Had DS at 19, 11 year gap then DD. You definitely have a point though. I’ve only ever been abroad to all-inclusive resorts in Benidorm. A Christmas in in a ski lodge in Canada sounds bloody gorgeous and I’m really motivated to get saving now. I’ll be kicking myself if I don’t start now and don’t get the opportunity to go and see DD out there.

OP posts:
CSJobseeker · 15/11/2021 18:07

@Cavagirl

OP do you know where she originally got the idea from?
Does it matter? She's 19, she wants to travel and see the world, it's not weird!
Double3xposure · 15/11/2021 18:05

@MiddayMass

I’d really hate for her to leave with her on bad terms with DH. She says she’d love us to come and spend a Christmas out there with her when she’s settled using the staff family discount and even said if we were struggling with money to come she’d try and help (I could never take her up on that, so lovely of her to offer though. I’m going to try and save myself).

DH is being such a twat.

That’s a great plan. And even better if your husband doesn’t go - that’s less money you need to save.

You will have an amazing time in Canada at Christmas. Maybe learn to ski or snowboard ?

You need to start living a bit my dear OP, you write like you are 75 but you must only be 38 😯

DrCoconut · 15/11/2021 18:00

I was talked out of an opportunity to volunteer abroad when I was 18. My family didn't want me to go. I was told it would be too far away, not safe, I wouldn't be able to afford it, I needed to concentrate on uni and studying etc. I gave up on the idea and it is still one of my big regrets in life. The others who went had an amazing time. I'd say as long as it's properly planned and there is a way to get home immediately if need be it's a great idea.

MimosaFields · 15/11/2021 17:58

I left my country at 18 to come to England. Best thing I ever did. Good luck to your daughter!

MiddayMass · 15/11/2021 17:58

I’d really hate for her to leave with her on bad terms with DH. She says she’d love us to come and spend a Christmas out there with her when she’s settled using the staff family discount and even said if we were struggling with money to come she’d try and help (I could never take her up on that, so lovely of her to offer though. I’m going to try and save myself).

DH is being such a twat.

OP posts:
LowlandLucky · 15/11/2021 17:50

Bloody fantastic, hope she has a great time.

Wimpeyspread · 15/11/2021 17:47

Are you from Barnsley OP? My daughter went on a round the world trip on her own at that age, scary for me but she got so much out of it. Also, never went back to Barnsley, it was suffocating her

Summerfun54321 · 15/11/2021 17:34

I haven’t read the whole thread but I’m so jealous of your DD she will have an AMAZING time!! I spent some time living and skiing in Canada and it was incredible. She will be the envy of all of her friends.

Roussette · 15/11/2021 17:28

She sounds really amazing! I had the complete opposite of what your Granny Frances was Confused

OP you need to stop him in his tracks with this. It's so so unfair on your DD. She has dreams and hopes, he has no right to quash those.

I was beyond worried about my DD when she went off younger than your DD but I knew I had to let her go

icedcoffees · 15/11/2021 17:18

Is your DH perhaps a bit jealous that your DD has the gumption to do something and he never did?

ObnoxiousFeminist · 15/11/2021 17:15

@Roussette she was fucking amazing. She was very much ahead of her time and an “I will increase doing the things that men do not like” kinda woman.