Are we crazy to move children to the usvi??

Nikki,

Health care is okay, with some great doctors, however if I had an emergency, special needs, or illness I would rather be in the states. I am sorry, but I do not like the hospital here. We have M.A.S.A which is an additional insurance that will fly us where ever we indicate in an emergency. We have one car and my husband has a work vehicle. One vehicle would work if your jobs didn't require driving around. I don't know about the money amounts. My husband actually moved down first and found us an apartment and got a few things settled before we moved down with the kids. It was a lot easier. Most apartments want first, last, and deposit up front and you have to get car insurance before customs will let you take it. So there are a lot of expenses when setting up 'camp'. The biggest employer here is the government. Service industry is large and easy to get a job in tourism. Good paying jobs that I know of are in the communications industry: internet, phone, t.v., etc. Other than my husband's job, I don't know how you get 'in' to the best jobs on island. Most advertised jobs are for service industry and manual labor.

Teresa

Nikki: Do take Teresa's posts to heart. Several other people have answered your inquiry but many of them don't have children and their answers are based on that - a wholly different perspective. Bluwater, just to give an example of someone who advocates you "go for it" lived here as a child many years ago and has very happy memories but her memories are just that and as much as we all appreciate Bluwater's advice and comments, she's a regular visitor, isn't raising her child here and is a regular poster on the visitor's forum seeking answers to tourism-related questions in preparation for her upcoming revisit. That is honestly said with all due respect to Bluwater! But, again, a whole different ballgame.

Teresa is totally upfront and honest and I know how difficult this transition has been, and continues to be, for her here. She's certainly not incapable of adapting to island life and in my opinion has done admirably well thus far. She also writes well-balanced opinions based on her own experiences and for that I give her accolades.

I can tell you in all honesty that I've both seen and known people moving here in the past 20+ years with children in tow and the majority have returned to the mainland within a few short years. Many younger people come here and have children here but then leave when the kids reach school age.

Hope this helps!

STT Resident is correct and her point is valid. My post of memories was only based on the view of a child. I don't know how hard it was for my parents, but I know it was hard. We moved down on more than one occasion, but never stayed for more than 2.5 yrs at a time. I did attend Sibilly School (public), but that was 30 year ago!

In all fairness, dad was with the VI government and the perks for such a position are likely to have been very generous (see the other threads about voting and schools 🙁 ). As such, I don't believe my family had the experience of the typical transplant. And even with the perks, we didn't stay, so it must have been hard.

And, even with all of my ideally fond memories, I am not there now and don't have any immediate plans to move down with my child. The USVI is not what it was 30 years ago, which is why my parents now spend their time on Tortola or in the Grenadines. Almost all of the families we knew then have moved away and don't even visit. People seem to leave with a sour taste, but I am not sure why.

How your children will feel about it shouldn't be the majority of the decision. Kids are often sheltered from reality.

Thanks Bluwater! We had some real head-butting going via PMs a while back and hopefully that's now over and done with. If you get a chance to stop in and say hello you'll have a great welcome. Cheers!

STTResident,

Head Butting? With you? Who would ever believe that you and I might headbutt? (grin)

I'll be sure to stop in 🙂 Thanks.