Expat Teenagers In Phuket

[HongKongPhooey]

A little contradictory HKP. In your OP you mention crime an violence in 10 years time on the island. When I posted your main concern should be education and job opportunities, you say "Live in the moment and deal with those things when you get there."

From day one your kids start school, the "moment" will have arrived.

Check out a series of questions I posted on the other thread.

Also agree that it's a good thread, and one that should give a lot of "food for thought" to the many parents of kids here, on the island.

That's not quite the same thing. By me saying 'Live in the moment' you can't interpret that as a frivolous, care free attitude. Of course I'm going to worry about things now and in the future.

What you were saying is not to live a particular kind of life right now in the present, because of something that may or may not be a problem in 10 years time. I would never do that. That doesn't mean to say that I won't have concerns because obviously I will.

I shall take this fairly soft attempt to catch me out as a sign that I have answered all your other queries satisfactorily, and you don't have anything else to add to your being apart from your grown up kids theory.

[NamKangMan]

A little contradictory HKP. In your OP you mention crime an violence in 10 years time on the island. When I posted your main concern should be education and job opportunities, you say "Live in the moment and deal with those things when you get there."

From day one your kids start school, the "moment" will have arrived.

Check out a series of questions I posted on the other thread.

Also agree that it's a good thread, and one that should give a lot of "food for thought" to the many parents of kids here, on the island.

That's not quite the same thing. By me saying 'Live in the moment' you can't interpret that as a frivolous, care free attitude. Of course I'm going to worry about things now and in the future.

What you were saying is not to live a particular kind of life right now in the present, because of something that may or may not be a problem in 10 years time. I would never do that. That doesn't mean to say that I won't have concerns because obviously I will.

I shall take this fairly soft attempt to catch me out as a sign that I have answered all your other queries satisfactorily, and you don't have anything else to add to your being apart from your grown up kids theory.

Would simply like you to answer the question I posed to another member on the other thread.

[HongKongPhooey]

5) what opportunity awaits for them, in adulthood, on Phuket, where they can be close to family? The high paying jobs on the island go to extended family members of the 10 families who run the island. Any other job, and they are just earning a few baht, which may still be ok money in Thailand, but nothing abroad. They will have to live in Bangkok to earn any sort of decent money.

This is where I would see raising a young adult to be a unsolveable problem..

When I was young I had jobs and hustles.. I would hitchhike to car auctions, buy a motor, come home clean and tart it up, slap an MOT on it, sell it for a profit.. I had odd jobs, I would constantly scan the free ad papers for buy and sells...

This entrepreneurial spirit enabled me to gain independence from my family at a young age, put money in my pocket, talk me how to deal with people, how to trade and barter.. How to ultimately be successful in business (retired by 28) as well as move out from home, forge my own path in the world.

How can an expat youth gain independence from their expat parents ?? What job market can an expat child go and start in ?? They will forever be 'outside' the society.. Forever be viewed as being a silver spoon rich kid ripe to be taken advantage of, without the benefit of an expats wallet to enjoy doing so.. They basically have a Thai job market and an expats costs.

In the west being young and poor is just part of the social fabric, students get by on low living costs, your all in the same boat.. Starting out.. Here there will never be that common ground for an expat kid, and without some hardship and striving in your younger days, without being forced to go make a buck yourself, outside the family its hard to imagine much work ethic or independence being fostered either.

Young adults need to grow in a society where they are among equals, I dont see how Thais attitudes to farangs enables that to happen.

I think you're pigeonholing everyone to be the same kind of person and from the same kind of family as yourself. You are doing what a lot of people do and saying 'This is what my life was like, so it must be the norm'. There is a million different ways kids can be raised, some will be better than others, some will be inadequate, but to pick one and say this is the only way to do it is very narrow minded.

Why for example do people always assume that wealthy people aren't able to give their kids a good sense of responsibility, teach them the value of money, and give them their independence? Why is it only poorer parents that can do that.

You say that being poor is part of the social fabric in the West!! Perhaps you should tell that to the half of the population that are wealthy because I don't think they would agree. Being poor is a part of the social fabric for poor people, nobody else.

I would agree that opportunities for poorly educated 50/50 kids with parents that are struggling financial may have a much harder time to get a good start in Phuket than the UK. I don't see well educated kids from good, financially comfortable parents, having the same problem.

[NamKangMan]

5) what opportunity awaits for them, in adulthood, on Phuket, where they can be close to family? The high paying jobs on the island go to extended family members of the 10 families who run the island. Any other job, and they are just earning a few baht, which may still be ok money in Thailand, but nothing abroad. They will have to live in Bangkok to earn any sort of decent money.

This is where I would see raising a young adult to be a unsolveable problem..

When I was young I had jobs and hustles.. I would hitchhike to car auctions, buy a motor, come home clean and tart it up, slap an MOT on it, sell it for a profit.. I had odd jobs, I would constantly scan the free ad papers for buy and sells...

This entrepreneurial spirit enabled me to gain independence from my family at a young age, put money in my pocket, talk me how to deal with people, how to trade and barter.. How to ultimately be successful in business (retired by 28) as well as move out from home, forge my own path in the world.

How can an expat youth gain independence from their expat parents ?? What job market can an expat child go and start in ?? They will forever be 'outside' the society.. Forever be viewed as being a silver spoon rich kid ripe to be taken advantage of, without the benefit of an expats wallet to enjoy doing so.. They basically have a Thai job market and an expats costs.

In the west being young and poor is just part of the social fabric, students get by on low living costs, your all in the same boat.. Starting out.. Here there will never be that common ground for an expat kid, and without some hardship and striving in your younger days, without being forced to go make a buck yourself, outside the family its hard to imagine much work ethic or independence being fostered either.

Young adults need to grow in a society where they are among equals, I dont see how Thais attitudes to farangs enables that to happen.

I think you're pigeonholing everyone to be the same kind of person and from the same kind of family as yourself. You are doing what a lot of people do and saying 'This is what my life was like, so it must be the norm'. There is a million different ways kids can be raised, some will be better than others, some will be inadequate, but to pick one and say this is the only way to do it is very narrow minded.

Why for example do people always assume that wealthy people aren't able to give their kids a good sense of responsibility, teach them the value of money, and give them their independence? Why is it only poorer parents that can do that.

You say that being poor is part of the social fabric in the West!! Perhaps you should tell that to the half of the population that are wealthy because I don't think they would agree. Being poor is a part of the social fabric for poor people, nobody else.

I would agree that opportunities for poorly educated 50/50 kids with parents that are struggling financial may have a much harder time to get a good start in Phuket than the UK. I don't see well educated kids from good, financially comfortable parents, having the same problem.

HKP, can you answer, directly, in what industries and job descriptions, do you see such "opportunities" existing in for the 50/50 kids entering the workforce on Phuket, and what do you see as the "essential and desirable" criteria needed by the applicant in order to gain such a position and what range of salary do you think these positions would provide?

[HongKongPhooey]

HKP, can you answer, directly, in what industries and job descriptions, do you see such "opportunities" existing in for the 50/50 kids entering the workforce on Phuket, and what do you see as the "essential and desirable" criteria needed by the applicant in order to gain such a position and what range of salary do you think these positions would provide?

This is getting a bit daft. We have two identical threads running at the same time. I kind of just answered that question on the other thread. I said if my kids wanted to live in Phuket for a while and work as a diving instructor for example then I wouldn't have a problem supporting them.

I have never implied that I thought there was a good selection of well paid jobs on the island. I did say however that I don't see the lack of these jobs as a problem. There's more than one way to skin a cat. I don't see being educated and raised on Phuket meaning you have to then find work in Phuket. I believe the 'International' life my kids will have had will have broken them free from this 'I have to be born, be raised, educated and work all in the same 20 square miles' that kids raised in the UK seem to have. I don't bow down to what's deemed to be the 'Norm' as so many others do.

[stevenl]

Also in the Uk and the rest of the west, people seeking university education move away from home. Sometimes they return, sometimes not.

Why would that be any different from here?

[Felt 35]

Shouldn’t upbringing of kids and their education be in the opposite order of what’s proposed here if one wants to make the best foundation to the kids! I.e. bring them up back home, move back to Phuket when the children are ready to decide for themselves which direction they want to go after high school.

[LivinLOS]

I think you're pigeonholing everyone to be the same kind of person and from the same kind of family as yourself. You are doing what a lot of people do and saying 'This is what my life was like, so it must be the norm'. There is a million different ways kids can be raised, some will be better than others, some will be inadequate, but to pick one and say this is the only way to do it is very narrow minded.

Why for example do people always assume that wealthy people aren't able to give their kids a good sense of responsibility, teach them the value of money, and give them their independence? Why is it only poorer parents that can do that.

You say that being poor is part of the social fabric in the West!! Perhaps you should tell that to the half of the population that are wealthy because I don't think they would agree. Being poor is a part of the social fabric for poor people, nobody else.

I would agree that opportunities for poorly educated 50/50 kids with parents that are struggling financial may have a much harder time to get a good start in Phuket than the UK. I don't see well educated kids from good, financially comfortable parents, having the same problem.

I think your missing my point.. I guess I didnt explain it well..

The issue wasnt being poor or rich, the issue was as a young adult, a mid teen etc.. You can educate your child on the value of work ethic and work to earn, in a way its almost impossible to here.. What can a skillless teen do here to earn towards a goal ?? Nothing because a harder working Thai or Burmese adult will do it for less. How can a Teen learn to haggle and barter a deal, when they will always be perceived as a silver spoon daddys rich kid (with some justification) when they are always outside the social fabric and order as an expat child ??

Theres a huge amount of learning thats done through interaction with peers.. With equals.. By putting them in an environment without peers and equals you closet them to a kind of public school only education, they miss that street smarts hustle thats highly valuable and doesnt get taught in classrooms. Secondly even without that large issue, in the late teens and early 20's what do they do for jobs in this market ?? English teaching ?? Dive master ?? Hotel front desk ?? Sure if they are happy being paid in buttons and sea shells its possible, but its no career path, and it looks hellish on a CV by the time they are 25.