Moving to Switzerland with toddler, concerns about settling in and him learning Swiss German

[Mmc33]

Hi, this is my first post on mumsnet so hope I've followed the advice correctly, feeling a little unsure of myself at the moment. DH has a new job in Switzerland since January, he's been commuting back each weekend so life at home with my 2yo has been pretty unsettled. He's such a happy, active child but he's been missing Daddy and sleeping badly, he's never been a great sleeper at night, but this has become a lot worse which is understandable as sure he is picking up on the things going on at home. I've been working my three month notice from a good job ready to be a SAHM, at least initially when we move to switzerland next month. Everything's changing for all of us, it is exciting but also I am scared. DH and I have lived abroad before a couple of times, but this time we're going with our son and dog. DS will be leaving his nursery, his friends, and a very close relationship with my parents and his cousins and I am worried about the impact on him. Added to that, he will be immersed in a different language,I am just wondering if anyone else has gone through similar and could give me any advice, or tips, or reassurance. We've been thinking to put him in nursery there for just a day or two a week to get him used to the language and making friends to keep some continuity as he thrives at nursery here, he's very active and loves playing and getting into everything. I'm worried about how he will pick the language up, everyone says he will be fine and will probably stop speaking for a while and then start again in both languages, but I'm worried where he's at with his English now will be put back. He's really sayi lots of words now, not really any sentences yet but learning new words every day, it's amazing to watch. Both DH and I are Brits and I speak German and. French but am relearning German as it was many years ago at uni. Feeling unsure about how we will get on, it's beautiful but seems very quiet and peaceful! Read lots about getting used to obscure Swiss rules. I'm sure I'm over thinking this, sorry for the long post, and I do really appreciate any responses.

There are a couple of mumsnetters in Switzerland. Hopefully they'll be along soon.
Have you checked the availability of nurseries for 2 year olds? In general Swiss mums keep their DCs at home til they go to Kindergarten at 4 or 5 or even later, if I got it right. In our village we had Knirpsechaffi (kids coffee), so a kind of informal play group for young mothers. You might look out for this as it would be a good way to meet other people.

Are you going to a rural place or more urban? In some places you will find many expats/foreigners like cantons of Zurich and Zug who might also run groups for English speaking families. Have you checked any of these groups? I had some brilliant advice and resources from here:

Expats-in-Zurich@yahoogroups
Welcome!!! This is a discussion list and resource center for expats living in & around the canton of Zurich. It is...
2237 Mitglieder • Letzte Aktivität 09:28

Expat-Moms-In-Switzerland
This group is for those Expat Moms living in or moving to Switzerland who want...
2058 Mitglieder • Letzte Aktivität 09:05

Expats-in-Switzerland
This group is for those expats living in or moving to Switzerland. It ...
1061 Mitglieder • Letzte Aktivität 08:55

Expats-in-Zug
This is a discussion list and resource center for expats living in & around the canton of ZUG. It is a good...
458 Mitglieder • Letzte Aktivität 16. Mär.

sorry, these are all yahoo groups. there may be other ones.

You'd be looking for a kinderkrippe for a 2 yr old, probably private unless you are happy to go with the flow but that could be costly. Ds was 3 when we moved but we stayed largely within the expat community and he went to international school which then started at 3 but took rising 3s by the time dd was that age. Is the job indefinite?

Agree with the forums mentioned by pp.

ah thanks for the group links, I hadn't seen those. I've been over to visit and looked around some kindekrippe, all private ones that take children from 6 months to kindergarten age. They've explained that he will be spoken to in Swiss german and only in English if he's having problems understanding or is upset, or during the settling in period. We'll be near Zug. The job is permanent from my DH's perspective :) so we'll see how we get on. I've found a playgroup at the International School of Central Switzerland also which is twice a week with a mixture of different nationality children which we'll go to also when he's at home with me. How did your children get on learning Swiss German?

We moved from England to Zurich when my youngest was nearly 3. She took a few months to settle in - for a while she kept asking when we were going home - but in the end it has all worked out fine and we're still happy here after 6 years!

She went to a bilingual montessori in our village for 3 mornings a week (for 2 to 5 year olds) and MuKi Turnen (Mutter and Kind Gymnastics) Turnen once a week. That worked well for her quickly learning enough swiss german to be able to play with other kids . She started kindergarten a year later and we had to push for her to get german lessons as the teacher thought her german was already passable for a 4 year old, but we felt she needed help as we couldn't speak german at home back then.

Other options for preschool children are: Spielgruppe (playgroups), Waldspielgruppe (outdoor playgroups) and Krabbelgruppe (mother and baby groups), which are all much cheaper than day care.

You could also try the englishform.ch website to ask for advice on specific Kinderkrippe.

Hope that helps! Good luck.

My son started in a French nursery when he was just 2. He hadn't been to nursery before so it's hard to know whether the settling period would have been the same in the UK (therefore an English environment). He did cry for the first month or so as I dropped him off (apparently he settled quickly once I'd gone) and yes, I felt pretty horrendous too. But then one day, he ran in happy and full of enthusiasm. Phew! The staff very occasionally spoke English to him but after a few weeks they stopped completely as they said he seemed to understand fine. It's been 6 months and I would say that most of the time he still speaks English when he's at nursery although he seems to comprehend French just fine. He occasionally says French words. His English hasn't been negatively affected at all. At his age they just take it in their stride and it's almost as though they are not aware that another language is involved. I'm sure your DS will be fine. I suspect you'll be the one who suffers the most with the transition initially! Good luck!