Moving to Poland with kids

We moved with three young children (4, 2 and 1 at the time). We were very fortunate that my company made it as easy as possible to move, and so our experience with the actual move was as painless as could be. Since they were so young, acclimating wasn't really an issue, fortunately.

We live in a small town, and for their ages, it's been perfect for us to be in a small town. Always easy walking distance to a local park, and safe, quiet roads. It's not very crowded, so finding parking close to the store isn't too difficult, etc.

My kids are outgoing - very outgoing, so each time we go out, they help us make new friends. Children are great icebreakers in all situations! I always make sure the kids say hello and thank you in Polish, which goes over very well.

We enrolled my eldest in a private Polish Kindergarten last year when he turned 5. That was a little scary (both for us and the Kindergarten!), but thanks to his open/outgoing nature, and good communication between us and the school before and during his first semester, his kindergarten experience was a great success, and he's learning Polish at an accelerating rate. We made an effort to show his teachers that they could communicate any issues they were having with him, and that we'd support them by working with our son on those issues (not eating food he didn't like, hitting, etc ;-) Now they feel like we're allies, and they feel they can be open with us, and we're not going to react negatively towards them. That's important when their English (and our Polish) is limited.

Visitors to our home are often appalled to see my kids running around on the tile floors without slippers. "Won't they get ill?" they ask. Polish parents do a good job of bundling their children for the elements. ;-) So if your kids have a Daniel Boone streak, be prepared for some raised eyebrows. ;-)

Hi, that's fantastic to hear that your move to Poland went well, i am considering moving there myself with my polish partner and our 2 year old daughter. I lived in Poland before for around 3 years, so I know what it is like and enjoy the country. However, we now have a young child, we moved back to uk , but would like to move back there.
Is your partner polish?
I was just wondering how you are managing with doing the things like school meetings, homework, doctors appointments , paperwork etc all in polish?
I know it takes time to learn the language, but when it comes to reading letters or formal conversations etc in polish it can become quite difficult!