Children in Dominica

[BAMALI]

I am applying to Ross for Sept 05. When I get accepted, I am planning to take my 2 young children (ages 1 and 5) with me. Has anyone gone through a similar situation? What can I except? Do they have houses for rent? Would I be able to hire a nany localy? Quality of schools and daycares? I'll really would appreciate any comments.
Thanks.

[MitchDC]

Bamali, from your message I can only assume that you are coming down as a single parent. If that is not correct, then this won't apply as much. Coming down as a single parent will be really tough. Caring for two children is hard enough work let alone attending medical school at the same time. But I don't mean to discourage you at all. The University has a private school on campus that your 5 year old can begin to attend (I think). I don't think they provide care for 1 year old children though. As far as day care, you have some options. You can find a student spouse who is willing to take care of your children (maybe they too will have children) for a resonable rate. You can also find a Dominica to babysit, but just like in the States you will want to know them very well and be careful about who you select. Bottom line, do some serious homework before you head down to Dominica with your kids. The island is an adjustment for everybody - with young kids all by yourself, it could be far more difficult. Best of luck to you!

MitchDC

I am applying to Ross for Sept 05. When I get accepted, I am planning to take my 2 young children (ages 1 and 5) with me. Has anyone gone through a similar situation? What can I except? Do they have houses for rent? Would I be able to hire a nany localy? Quality of schools and daycares? I'll really would appreciate any comments.
Thanks.

[BAMALI]

Thank you MitchDC! You are right My Hubby is not coming along, someone has to work to pay the bills :-). I will follow your advice and do my homework before heading to Ross. I believe they also have a daycare for very young kids if I am not mistaking. Do you think I should go to Dominica now to find housing and check out the school or wait until September?
Thanks

[MitchDC]

Bamali, We knew several families in Dominica who hired local women as babysitters from time to time. They really like them and it was very affordable. The Dominica women love children and are very protective of them. They would often say "mind that child now!" (imagine that in a friendly female british caribbean accent...you'll see what I mean). My wife just said it to me exactly as they would and it brought back a lot of memories. Anyways, you'll always get special favors from the Dominicans if you have your baby with you.

It sounds like you have good support back home and that will help out a lot. We always heard great reviews of the education and experiences at the Ross Day School. I'm not sure if they had day care for younger kids back when we were in Dominica, but they may now. The Ross housing staff are very helpful if you correspond with them and tell them exactly what you want. I don't think you need to visit the campus JUST to pick out housing. You should probably go a few weeks early if you were worried, but as long as you can reserve something through the housing office (very accomadating to familes) then you'll be just fine. There will still be an adjustment, but good planning will make the transition ealier. Best of luck!

MitchDC

Thank you MitchDC! You are right My Hubby is not coming along, someone has to work to pay the bills :-). I will follow your advice and do my homework before heading to Ross. I believe they also have a daycare for very young kids if I am not mistaking. Do you think I should go to Dominica now to find housing and check out the school or wait until September?
Thanks

[socialcircle]

Hi, husband is considering going back to med. at age 33. We have 3 children and will all be coming when and if accepted. Can you give me any info. on schooling that you know about or have learned, I assume you are already there?! thanks

[Dru]

How old are your 3 children, SC?

[PAPADOC2B]

If you can help it try not to drag your kids to Dominica. You can always visit, but it will make a lot more sense for your husband to visit. I sturted at 34, and went back to NY at least once every semester to see my wife and dtr. But you could always meet in some "neutral" land. Just pick some civilzed place like Puerto Rico, Antigua, Barabados, St. Marteen. All relatevely close to Dominica, and lots of direct flights from the States. You don't want to get trapped in that hellhole.
Good Luck

Hi, husband is considering going back to med. at age 33.
We have 3 children and will all be coming when and if accepted. Can you give me any info. on schooling that you know about or have learned, I assume you are already there?! thanks

[MommyDearest]

If it's important for you to be together as a family, then for goodness sake, go down. My husband just finished up in August and we had our 3 children down there (ages 4, 3, 1-1/2 when we left). I noticed an influx of families our last semester and saw that there were more coming in for the Sept. semester too. I think that we happened to be there during the dry spell.

The day school is great for the older kids (mine was almost 4 when he started) and I didn't use the day care on a regular basis, so I'm not an expert on that. I stayed at home with the younger two and I know of other mothers that do the same.

There are a lot of activities for spouses too. I was told by a member of the RSO (Ross Spouses Org.) that there will be a Kids' Club, that will have activites that will be good for children as well as spouses thoughout the semester.

The two most difficult things about living in Dominica are the heat and the food situation. You get used to the heat although be sure to find a place that's got a/c units--but then be careful about the cost. We kept our a/c on about 6 hours a day and we paid about $650+ EC month for electricity. Get a place that's got a generator--for the times when the power goes out, at least you will be able to keep your fans running.

Then bring as much american, convenience foods as you can (pudding, jello, snacks, packaged rice/noodle with sauces, etc.). You can get most of what you need at the stores, but the american stuff will cost you lots of money (I think that I paid nearly $10 for a package of Oreos--had to, Tina's had fresh milk too--but man were they good). Having these things on hand will make making dinner a lot easier and less stressful.

Don't let people discourage you from keeping your family together. There's something to say about being able to see your husband everyday. If you come with a positive attitude, then you will be fine. Will it be easy? Probably not everyday, but you will be so much the better for the experience.

Hope this helps!

[socialcircle]

They are at present 5, 3 and 20months. Assuming we could get in by next fall. I would have just one in school. Being very optimistic, my husband of course is 33 and is just finishing a masters of div. here in florida, with a bachelors in bio and chem. Since we do not know the time table once you apply and how soon you can start we are trying to get a few answers and explore all options. Ross just seems like the best place for us, from what we have read.

[socialcircle]

Thanks so much Mommydearest, we appr. the response. I know that we will def. stay together. We wouldn't dare sep. as a family. We live in florida, so we are somewhat used to the heat and the kids are young enough I hope to adapt to a new setting, at least similar to florida.

Can you tell me how the day school is? We are going to do this without loans so we are looking at costs for everything.

Also we are yall now and what was your husbands experience at Ross?

Thanks so much for the information, its a great help. Especially since we have just started looking very seriously at this again. My husband thought about going 6 years ago, but the timing was off and now we know we are ready.

[Dru]

The three yr. old and the 5 yr. old would probably look at it as an adventure. The baby might be a real ball and chain around your neck when you want to study. Teens are often bored silly there...my one daughter spent a year there one week.