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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would never do that to my oldest. Sorry. It is too late to pull Him for HS especially to a country like Singapore. You won’t have the same rights there and neither will he.

He’ll move back to US with no HS friends to visit when he comes home for the holidays.

It seems like you’ve made up your mind already but you have kids.  Don’t do this to oldest.  And to the Pp who said you all would bond over this- not being snarky, but do you have a teen?

I’m sure some kids would be more than fine, but what if yours isn’t.  HS is a tough age [/quote]

We did this to Western Europe for three years for elementary school.  Fabulous experience- and I think you will regret NOT doing this.  Similar family had the same chance as us - didn’t go for it and then regretted.

Your kids will be overwhelmed academically at first over there - all of them (Singaporeans speak 5 languages) but the really hard part comes when they return to sub-optimal schools here).  So I would only worry about middle schoolers - but then again middle school sucks everywhere.

Focus on the freedom for your kids.  This is something if you stay they will not have.[/quote]

Explain/expand on your last line? They won’t have freedom if we stay in the us or if we stay in Singapore?[/quote]

NP. We have expat friends in Singapore and visit frequently. The freedom that my DD experiences there is incredible. We live in a west coast city and until DD’s first time in Singapore, she had never been in a situation where it was safe enough for her to walk into a public restroom alone at a museum or restaurant or similar. DD can play in parks and playgrounds with her friends in Singapore without us doing a needle check or scanning for crazy people or remnants of homeless encampments. We let her sit with her friends on public transit separately from us and wait for us solo at a table at a hawker center or even get her own food without our help. Sports are more culturally important than in most Asian cities and so even local school students have more well-rounded school experiences than is typical for Asian tweens and teens. We know more people there who are from Singapore and Malaysia than we do expats, so I can’t speak for the expat community but people there are interesting, warm and friendly. The unique mix of cultures and ethnic backgrounds in SE Asia is really exhilarating.

Obviously, this safety and freedom for even young kids comes at a price for some residents of the country and a lot of the labor that makes raising kids there easy exploits the financial poverty of guest workers’ native countries, but it’s a fabulous places for kids to grow up.

The downsides: unstable friend groups, obscene wealth and some really spoiled kids, local schools aren’t really an option for non-residents, lots of academic pressure, and some instability in international schools. For example, our friends who go to a Canadian school switched schools because the government ended the lease on one campus rather abruptly, so they had to scramble and apply out amidst the huge rush of new HK applicants. International schools are also huge if you’re used to smaller U.S. student bodies.[/quote]

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