Bear with me on this as I have not posted before...
I'm looking for some advice in respect of moving my 15 year old son from York to London, when he finishes his final year of secondary school next year.
This is the scenario... I work for a company where at the moment I work in both York and London (90% York 10% London). 2 years ago, I met someone at work (who lives in London) and for the past two years we have commuted between both- seeing each other at weekends - and would like to move to a situation where we are in the same place.
We had decided that my partner would relocate to York, however there is a possibility my job could be transferred to London anyway (most of my team are there), which would mean a significant loss of earnings as there are no opportunities to do what I am currently doing in York. My partner's job involves working with clients in London, and it would take a long time to rebuild a client base in York. It does seem more feasible at this stage to relocate down there.
My son is 15 -and as I understand is the case with a lot of children these days - he spends the majority of his time (as much as is allowed) playing computer games and talking to his friends online. He has two or three close friends and I would say they do things outside of the house maybe once a month. I have been concerned about his lack of social life for sometime, we have tried karate, scouts, after school clubs etc. He is not interested.
We relocated from Cornwall when he was 6, which was obviously a very different situation, but we have successfully moved before and he quickly made friends and settled in. I do feel like it might be good for him to move out of his comfort zone, that there would be good opportunities for him in terms of education and employment, and that he might move into a new friendship circle where they are more social and active.
We have very briefly discussed the idea of moving to London, he is adamant that he does not want to go. He has visited twice both at Christmas time and both to very busy areas. I would like to gauge the opinions of others on how best to discuss with him, and whether I should overrule his decision as his parent, or if I am being selfish by moving him when he doesn't want to go.
...One idea I had was that I could let him trial it for a year and if he really hates it he could come back.
NB I should mention that my father and brother both live in York, we would not have family in London but would visit regularly.
I'm interested to know people's thoughts! smile