r/Parenting•
kynd3r90

Guilt for raising child abroad

Discussion

Long story short..Lived in the UK for 14 years. Now we have a 2 and a half year old, who was born there.

6 months ago we moved back into our country (eastern european country) because we wanted to raise her near the rest of the family, hoping she would have roots and have a childhood at lest 5% from what we had we were little, have a beautiful social life, growing near cousins , in a traditional way.

But its been 6 month now...and it looks like things are not like we imagined. We found jobs but the pay is very low, we've spent lots of money until now, and we don't think we belong here anymore. We wanted to build a house but money are not enough anymore, and the only way would be is to make a loan but paying it would steal years from our life, especially because the wage is low and we wouldn't be able to save any money anymore, or travel, we would just live month by month.

Anyway...we want to move back to the UK, because thats the country we feel like its home, we got married there, had the child , lived there...but in the same time I feel like im stealing all that i mentioned from my daughter, I feel guilty that she won't be near family and have roots from here, and I don't know how to take the best decision.

I don't know if me and my husband can manage to be sufficient for her, in a foreign country.. how will she grow without the rest of the family? And I can't say we had the best social life in the UK, you know..work, home..

I want to hear stories from people who raised kids abroad. Have you ever felt guily for moving? What would you do?

Posted Mar 6, 2026, 9:51 PM UTC

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