What is Spain like for living in with children?

Question

Family friends of ours, they have 4 children (8, 4, 4, and 2) and they are thinking about moving back to Spain where the husband is from and where they lived for about 18 months of their first childs life. I was just wondering, what is Spain like for living in with children. Do they have good health cover, child care, government help etc. What is normal life like for families over there? They all speak fluent Spanish, and will be moving from Australia. Is Spain a better place to live with a family than Australia? Is it similar to Australia? i dont know much about Spain, but I was just wondering if its easy/good to live there with kids n stuff.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Spain is a very good place for living with children, good education,good medical cover, childcare adequate but I,m not sure what you are referring to with regard to government help.I cant comment whether Spain or Australia is best but they are definitely different the family unit in Spain is a very strong unit

Answer 2

Ok, as a sydneysider now living in Madrid and working as a teacher I can tell you that the majority of children are happy, intelligent and well looked after.  I do not think the health care system is as good as ours.  There is a lot of red tape.  As for childcare, it seems every family I know has a live in maid, or someone who comes for the day to look after the children, clean the house, cook meals, make beds etc.  I don't know anyone who cleans their own house.  It seems to be mostly Romanians in madrid that do these jobs.  Depending on where they are going to live, I much prefer my own upbringing in Australia... there is no space in cities over here for kids to run around and play in the streets.

Answer 3

Yes, we have spaces for children, the problem is just in the largest cities like Madrid or Barcelona.  

And definitively it's a mistake to say that Spaniards have a maid working in their house, because it is wrong, in fact, most Spaniards do the houseworks by their own. Only rich people or people who has a little freetime have a maid working in their house. I don't know anyone who has a maid in their house.

Child and Health care are good in Spain. Spain is on the average of Western Europe, with good infrastructures and services. Can't say if it is better or worse than Australia, but is a good country to live in. People are very friendly too.

And yes, we usually have close relationship with our relatives. The family is very important for Spaniards.