5 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT BEING A PARENT IN DUBAI

Excellent education offerings. Although expensive, I am grateful for the quality and variety of schools available to my girls.

Talk about cosmopolitan and diversity!
Ninety percent of residents are expats . My children have been exposed since their nursery years to a diverse and multi-cultured environment, with more then a 100 nationalities in their current school.

Building a career and raising a family is actually doable; subject to your time management skills and access to a support system. With a planned out after school schedule for the kids and help at home, we are pretty much on autopilot on weekdays.

It’s Dubai – it’s the next big thing and we get to be part of the making of a great city!

It’s still a small city, which means I can cross through the whole town in an hour and the traffic is very well managed.  

4 PLACES WE LOVE HANGING OUT AT

The parks and makers markets – where the girls enjoy outdoor life, the good weather and I get to meet local makers and shop artisanal goodies ( a good change from brand packed malls)

The beach – which is useable almost the entire year, simply because we have no winter in Dubai. If we are not swimming, we are enjoying the beachside activities, shopping stalls, restaurants or cafes

There is always someplace new or something going on – so every week we discover our next favorite place

Hang out with friends at home or in the backyard; indeed a great blessing to be in the heart of the city and  still be able to live in a big space, 15 minutes from downtown

3 THINGS THAT YOU HATE ABOUT BEING A PARENT IN YOUR CITY

The weather ☹ Could be unbearable for 3 whole months ( 48-52C unbearable); and another 3 months of 98% humidity that your sunglasses fog when you step outside.

The fact that we have to stay indoors 6 months in the year and mostly hang out at the mall which means that kids miss out on lots of outdoor activities with a small time window to go on their bikes or have outdoor fun

Majority of the population is young middle aged with above average GDP, my children don’t really know what a demographically balanced society looks like. Sometimes it feels out of touch with the real world.

2 FAVORITE PLACES TO EAT

We are on a mission to discover a new restaurant every weekend! there is literally a new place every weekend 52 weeks a year

My girls love Italian food, any decent place with good pasta or pizza is our favorite (Carluccio's would be their all time choice)

1 ITEM YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT IN YOUR CITY

My car – simply because you can’t survive strolling down the highway, Id’ either be run over with the legal speed limits or melt away in the summer heat