Should we relocate to rural living??

[Wardensworld]

Hello Mamas!
Thank you for being here xx
We are considering relocating from Northamptonshire to Scottish Borders or Scotland. The main reasons for this are:
Husband has family in Scotland and N of England - have little family connection where we are
Financial freedom - we could afford to buy a property for around £100,000 less than we have here. My husband is a teacher, so his salary would remain the same.

Rural living! We are both village/countryside people and nature lovers. Our children are the same and crave nature connections. We would love a small parcel of land.

I'm here for advice because the only thing holding us back is our two girls who are 8&10 years. Parent guilt!!
We moved to this village 3.5 yrs ago, and both girls moved school last year so that they could make friends to move up to upper school with. Both have social anxiety, and the eldest has ASD and has joint problems. She finds fitting in a struggle.

We both feel that it would be so unfair on them to move again, to somewhere totally new and have to start new schools (again) and test their resilience. We totally see the bigger picture that the surroundings and lifestyle would benefit them so much.

Should we stay here for the children to have stability, familiarity and routine? Or should we go for it, and show them what life could be like when you shift priorities and follow your dreams?!

Any advice is so welcome ❤️

Thank you xx

I say go for it. Any struggles following the move will very likely be short lived. You'll soon settle into a new routine and it will all soon become the norm. Your children will probably thank you one day when they're older. Best of luck!

Stay where you are. Totally unfair to your children at this point in time. And rural living is a total drag with teenagers. Follow your dream when they’re up and grown.

Am I right in thinking that kids were at school number 1, then you moved house (3.5 years ago), so that was school number 2, then they moved schools last year, so that was school 3. And now you’re thinking of moving again, to school 4?
I think that’s pretty harsh on both your children. I’d imagine it’s going to be a very disrupted education, particularly with Covid in the mix. It’ll also be likely they will continue to feel like “the outsider” when the new kid, then again when she doesn’t live near her peers in secondary school.

You’re saying it’s your dream. So it’s worth looking into it with a really clear idea of where and what you’re looking at, including how DC’s will get around when they’re teenagers, how they’ll make friends when already socially anxious, what you will do (job-wise)/ meet people /etc. Because if you don’t move you don’t want to regret it later, but if you do you won’t really be able to move DC yet again.

Why don't you ask them? You haven't even mentioned if they like it where they are.