Should we move far away and uproot ds from his school

[Neptunesgiraffe]

We moved to the area we live in just before our ds started in reception. We moved for work reasons and the plan was to stay here for good. However, I increasingly feel like we've made a mistake. I haven't settled here. I much prefer where we used to live and I regret moving away from there every day. I had so many friends and we had lots of friends with children of a similar age to ours. Unfortunately, going back there is out of the question, currently. However, my Oh has been offered a job two and a half hours away in an area I know well. Its much closer to my elderly parents and the place is beautiful. I would like to move there and my Oh would also like to move there as the job opportunity he has been offered is excellent. Our concern is our ds. He is 8 and he is an absolutely wonderful child who has developed some close relationships with his friends. He loves school and is really happy where he is. We have tentatively talked with him about possibly moving to a new place and he says does not want to leave school and his friends. He loves living where we are. Have we left it too late to move and should we stay where we are for his sake?

I would move.
tbbh, I wouldn't have involved him in the decision making process in the first place, or let him think it was his decision to make.
I would have presented it as a really exciting thing that was going to happen.
He won't remember living somewhere else and you are suggesting that he gives you his opinion, when obviously he is going to choose where he is, because that is all he knows.

Of course you should move. You and your OH are the adults and it is not fair to put the burden of adult decision making on to an 8 yr old.

You aren't moving 'blind' - you say you know the area, it's beautiful, it's close to parents, and it is an excellent job opportunity for your oh. It sounds like a no brainer to me.

Two and a half hours isn't an impossible journey if he wants to come back and visit friends or to invite his friends for a weekend, and with all the social media and technology of things like Skype / Facetime and e-mails etc he can keep in touch easily enough if he wanted to.

I would move without question.

We moved at a similar age and it went really well. At this age, most children are still very social and the school were very good at helping him settle in. We visited for lots of days out and had a visit to the school which was very reassuring. It's been a great move, we picked an excellent place for family life and its close enough to visit family.

PS
We're here now till secondary school has finished or forever. Once you hit secondary school I think stability is key.

Thanks for replying! We are leaning towards moving but it's good to hear what you both say. And you're both very helpful. It's good to hear from someone who has already done it, too. I think I'm carrying round the regret of the last move which has clouded my judgement. And I'm worried that nowhere can live up to the last place we lived in.

(Just for clarity, we haven't asked our ds if we should go or not. I wouldn't put that decision on him. But we talked briefly about his dad's job offer and how we would need to move if we decide to take it.)