Anyone living in MAdrid with very young children?

[LaTrucha]

DH and I are contempalting living in Madrid for a year. We have a daughter who would be 3 and a bit and I'm expecting a baby who would be 8 months old when we would go.

I'm pretty apprehnesive as we did go to Cartagena for 6 months last year and it was a disaster, for many reasons, but partly because there was not the support and activities network (baby swimming, toddler groups etc)for SAHMs there as there is here. I was just wondering if it was any different in Madrid.

Also, it is vaguely possible we would put the DCs in nursery for some of the time. If you could give me an idea of how much this would cost, I'd be grateful.

Hi LaTrucha

If you were able to live in central Madrid then there are activities for Mums and tots. I know of at least 2 Mother and Toddler groups run by ex-pats.

Since I have been living here (3 years) things are slowly improving and there have been new activities set up, such as swimming and music classes for babies. However I do find they tend to be quite spread out, often into the suburbs where there are larger groups of ex-pats, areas such as La Moraleja, Majadahonda, Pozuelo de Alarcon.

I live 40kms out of Madrid in the Sierra Norte and thats NOT a good place to be a SAHM! I have a 3 year old DS and a 7 month DS and I can honestly say that I do not know how I haven´t gone do-lally living here with LOs. My experience is that the majority of Spanish Mums work and their LOs go to Nursery so its hard to strike up friendships during the day. Activities for babies and toddlers are nil, therefore where you live is very important.

As for Nurseries, I am not sure of the exact fees although I am pretty certain they are lower than London, even in the centre of Madrid that is. What I do know is that you would pretty much pay the same for a few hours as you would for a full day, as most places are full-time.

Good luck with your decision. I have to say that doing it for a year gives you a totally different outlook than knowing it is likely to be a permanent thing

Hi LaTrucha

As bebespain says there are a few groups you can go to in the centre of Madrid which IMHO is the place to be if you are only here for a short time with LOs. I reckon now you can fill every day in with one group or another and it is easy to get around on the metro etc (shall ignore the fact most stations have lots of steps and no lifts!).

We are permanent here and you'll find that children from 3yo are all at school. 3-5 is infant second stage and equivalent to UK nursery and reception and places are free and ALL children are given a place though not compulsory until 5yo. School year to start is based on birth year so this September the children born in 2007 will be starting so you wouldn't need to worry about nursery fees. If you want an indication then I can tell you that nursery fees are anything from 175 to 400 euros+ a month depending on how many hours etc.

Life is much, much better than it was for SAHM in the centre (like bebespain I am outside and not one activity or group near us). Happy to furnish you with links and groups and contacts when you get to planning it more closely. Just give me a shout. I can assure you that Madrid will be very different to Cartegena as we are SOOOOOOOOOOO much more sophisticated here...

Bebespain - I was in total shock when I got to Cartagena. The attitude in Spain is so completely different. There was even a child who was the grandchild of my MILs friend in the next building to us. THey were held up to say hello to each other by their respective Abuelas but no idea of them playing together, although they were the same age. My jaw hit the floor. Thanks for the info on areas of Madrid that might be good to choose.

LteMAdrid - that's interesting about school places. Thanks. ALso reassuring about the groups! I do think I may have exhausted everything Cartagena had to offer:P several years ago! (apart from DD's Abuelos y tias, of course). I'll save this thread and if we go for it, I'll get in touch. Thanks.