Because
it involves putting significant geographical distance between yourself
and the children's grandparents, uncles and aunts, etc., moving abroad
means losing your extended family framework and points of reference. And
because it also means being a long way away from friends, the family
finds itself all on its own, restricted to just the parental couple and
the children. Not everybody finds this an easy situation to cope with,
and this is especially true in the cases of families that lead a very
full social life in their country of origin. You therefore need to make
sure you build a network of social connections in the new country. The
family will need to learn to make new acquaintances, and each
individual member will need to make their own new friends, be it at
school, at work or as part of the process of participating in sport or
leisure activities. What's absolutely essential at the beginning of the
process of moving abroad is that the family is able to communicate, that
each individual member can tell the others what they feel and think. Getting
started with a move to a foreign country is not easy and
straightforward, which is why it's important to be able to talk to each
other, especially in families in which one partner works and
the other doesn't. Things can prove to be more difficult for the
non-working partner in such circumstances.
