Starting out a new life in Spain

Well..we have had our first wobble, I am sure there are more to come...

Since we arrived our children have continued to push the boundaries. When we moved out from Ireland they had a certain type of lifestyle and we were happy we could protect them from lifes' ills. Not long after starting school they started to push us hard for more freedoms. They can see the spanish children who live in town playing outside on the weekend after 21:00 and they want to have the same freedom. Our idea is that, given their ages, they should be inside during the winter dark nights with us.

On saturday it was the local trade fair and there was a small land train...the local children were jumping off and on...this was not good, one slip and they were under the wheel. Of course when your children see this they think that they can do this as well.

So on saturday night we had a meet jesus moment and there were lots of raised voices as both my wife and I have to pull the reins in. I think the kids were a little shell shocked by it all and so were we. I think its a good thing to get all these things sorted, though the thought of going back fills me with horrors.

For now things are back and settled and we are now encouraging the kids to do things around the house, reminding them why they cannot run wild and we hope for the best...we have been here only 3 months and I suspect there are more wobbles to come...this first one is simply how we live together...there will be sterner tests ahead of us. When we lived in Ireland it took us 2-3 years to integrate/settle and we have to remember this fact, as things do not happen overnight!