Considering a move to Dubai with young children and mixed feelings

[Surfingirl]

My husband has been offered a job in Dubai, we currently stay in the country with 2 young children - aged 5 and 1. 5 year old is starting school in a few weeks. We have a lot of family and friends close by and I work part time (2.5 days a week) and stay with my children the other days. I love my life here, feel settled etc so I am really wary of moving. I would stay at home with the children in Dubai for the first year or 2 then put my littlest into P/T nursery at age 3. We have been offered a very good package but I am still unsure, feel im sacrificing a lot. Has anyone made this move and have any insight.
I have not been to Dubai before but I have been to surrounding areas (Abu Dhabi, Qatar) so I have an insight of holidaying there.

Do you live in Dubai? I have spoke to a few living in DubaI and no one has a negative thing to say about it so far. This comment regarding the war really scared me though.

@Morepositivemum what is Col? Sorry I am new to mumsnet.

@SunnySunnyDayz We have both agreed to give it a year if we move and if either don't like it we will return to the UK. We are a strong couple I dont think this would cause a split.
Sorry I maybe wasn't clear in my OP. I have been, 12 years ago on holiday, I loved it but I was 21 and I wasn't looking into the practicality of living there.

Could you please go into more detail? I probably sound naive but I am wanting to know why it would be an awful place to take children. What do you recommend researching?

plus one.

I am in aviation and could not work from home. I would be willing to do some PT hours maybe in a year. I dont want to put my little one into a nursery too young.

please could you go into more detail?

I wouldn’t no. It’s built on slavery. Boiling hot and near a war zone. And look what’s happened to people who took photos on their phones, got caught drinking in the wrong places, had financial issues or even wrote bad reviews online!

Im guess your eldest is all ready to start school soon. I wouldn’t want to disrupt that either or the 2 days a week job which is a gold mine to find right now.

thank you for your insight. This probably sounds naive but could you go more into what happened to people taking photos etc/ writing bad reviews?
I honestly stay away from the news as feel it has too many awful stories.

That's fine - it's all pretty dire - but you really need to do some proper research before dismantling your life to move to a slavery desert next door to a war zone. You can do some googling yourself if you want to find recent news stories - google 'slavery in dubai' or 'impact of the war in dubai' or 'fun things to do while benefitting from slave labour in dubai' or even 'weather in dubai' and you will find out all sorts of things.

Fuck no. There’s no guarantee you can bring your children back to uk

What do you mean by this?

Again. Google. The father is in charge of the children.

thanks

You really should pay attention to current affairs and the news as it's clear you haven't done much research.

It is against the law in Dubai to publicly say or write anything which can convey a negative impression of the place. That's why, when missiles fell on the UAE, British influencers in Dubai were saying on social media how safe and protected they felt etc, while then quietly returning to the UK. Punishments are harsh, including prison, huge fines or travel bans so you can't leave the country.

I couldn't bear to live like that.

If you decide you don’t like it/DH decides to trade you in/whatever you will be legally unable to leave with your children unless DH agrees to that.

Of course he’s not going to say he would insist on them staying, but you really want to risk the rest of your life and your DC childhoods on him honouring a promise? You would be insane to do this.

others have talked about legal aspects but do check the full cost of living because it’s incredibly expensive there. Consider housing, health costs, schooling, car costs, the the niceties of life like eating out, kids clubs, activities etc. I know two people who returned with the kids within the years because the headline salary that seemed amazing just was nowhere near enough and they didn’t like the lifestyle either

I have done research - from people that live out there too, most have said it feels so much safer than the uk. Maybe this forum isnt for me. I feel like it is very negative, I am asking for people for personal opinions, not snide answers. I was hoping for genuine insight of people that live there.I know there will be so much mixed opinions but I am looking for real answers of people who live there or who have lived there.
This is me trying to do a form of research.

Mumsnet hates Dubai (and some of the reasons why have some merit). So you might not get the best response here. Depends how good the finances are, income tax, will you be spending everything? Or saving/investing for the future. Is it a permanent move or an adventure for a few years?

I have found this, did not expect 90% negative, I just googled mums forums and this one popped up, I feel shocked at the answers when I was just asking a genuine question. The finances are good but I wont disclose anymore. I will delete my account as this doesn't seem to be for me. Thank you :)

Unfortunately it can be a very negative forum and people love a pile on. Best of luck with whatever you decide.

The fact that mumsnet hates Dubai is why the people that live in the UAE have given you more measured responses on this thread as they don’t want to get jumped on - and the people that don’t live there come out with absolute shit.

Join the British Mums in Dubai Facebook group and you’ll get a much better insight on life there. Like any place there’s positives and negatives, but most people are really happy.

As I said in my comment above, the thing I’d really stress is that if you do move, come with a positive ‘adventure’ mindset as you’re way more likely to have a good time. People tend to have the experience they project, and if you move expecting to dislike it that’s the experience you’ll have.

Good luck!

Both sides of the coin can often be true at the same time - the people you've spoken to who have experience of living in Dubai love it and it has issues with human rights, you aren't able to speak freely about anything detrimental to Dubai (hence the influencers saying how safe they felt when Dubai was being bombed by Iran - they weren't allowed to say otherwise) and there are issues if you wanted to return home with the children if your husband doesn't agree. It's complicated and only you can decide if you want the trade-off, as well as moving away from family, friends and your job. Your children won't be little forever so think about the future, where do you want to be then?

Part-time work can be quite tricky to come across and it sounds like you have everything worked out at home. I wouldn't move.

I wouldn’t want to raise children in a place where money and possessions are everything. To be fair I have never been to Dubai but the image of it from the outside is a whole lot of Brits making loadsa money and buying flashy cars, the huge malls and the bling, the household staff- just not the sort of society I would want my children to grow up in. I don’t resent people earning good money, but I do very much resent the endless pursuit of more cash and more stuff, none of which is any good for the planet or the people working in factories in developing countries.

And that’s before you even get started on the human rights issues.