Spain is a fabulous place to bring up your children. Family comes first and children are children for longer. However, it can take time to adjust to new ways of doing things, especially when they are so different to what we thought were the right way to do things.
It’s all about opening your mind and embracing new ideas and cultures.
2. The battle of getting them to say “Please” … is never ending!
3. Hot chocolate and donuts (churros) are considered a normal breakfast.
4. The first word your toddler learns at nursery is “Mío”.
5. Dogs say “guau guau”.
6.. You send them off to their first day of school, escuela infantil, before they are even three-years-old!
7. You have learnt to do divison sums backwards
8.. They call Tweety Pie “Piu Piu”.
9. You catch yourself introducing yourself as “la madre de …” or “el padre de …”
10. Hand and facial gestures are often used in place of words by your kids for expressing themselves.
13. Three month long summer holidays are just the norm.
14. Sea air is a popular cure for many illnesses … especially the never ending snotty noses!
15. Your kids grow up able to spray salt water up their own nostrils to help clear a blocked nose.
16. Lunchtime can be any time from 2pm to 5pm … especially at the weekend.
17. Your kids complain when school days last longer that 9am to 2pm.
18. You are no longer surprised when you go outside to find a pool full of children…and most of them aren’t yours!
19. You don’t usually go outside if it’s raining and, to their English grandparents’ horror, your children do not possess any wellies
20. When the children ask for “jamón” (ham) you need to check whether they want “Serrano” or “Cocido” (Spanish cured or boiled).
21. Your kids, from an early age, are experts as sucking fresh shellfish, “mariscos”, from their shells.
22. They do not think twice about having a full blown conversation with an unknown “abuelo” or “abuelito” in the street.
23. They are constantly told by friends and family, back home, that they “look so well” due to year round exposure to fresh air and sunshine.
24. They know the difference between a barra, baguette, pitufo, pan de molde and mollete.
25. They can roll their R’s a lot better than you.
26. You no longer flinch when Spanish radio and TV play the explicit lyrics of UK / US songs and videos.
27. You are totally unflustered when you receive a note on Friday evening telling you that it’s a one week school holiday … starting on Monday!
28. Your family conversations are often a mezcla of two idiomas.