We spoke with the lovely Dima and Arina who have a business for children here on Koh Phangan. Their son was in fact born here so is being brought up in paradise from the beginning. Their son is now three years and eight months old and attends The Learning Tree.
This is our third article on bringing up kids in paradise...
What were your first thoughts when you found out you were going to have a child on Phangan?
We planned it so was not surprised, it was right on our plan. He’s a boy, and was born in May which is what we wanted! We decided to move mostly because of our son.
Here on Koh Phangan we now have First Western hospital which is better. There is a very good pediatric doctor who comes every month from Samui, he is a very good doctor.
Talk us through the pregnancy?
He was born in Bangkok hospital on Samui and for the first four months we lived in Samui as a small child needs to visit the doctor for vaccinations, then we visited family in Russia.
when he was six months old we came here. Life with a small baby on Phangan is very comfortable, all day he breathes fresh air, he can swim in the sea! I think he started to swim before he sat!
It’s very easy to find good food for a baby as Phangan has fresh fruit and vegetables all year. There are no problems with clothes, you don’t need warm trousers etc and other things we have in Western world.
When we compare our lives to parents in Russia we find they have many things to do and buy, here it is much more easy.
Tell us a bit about The Learning Tree that your son attends…
We think it is the best international kindergarten, they call themselves a school. They have sports activities, arts activities and the kids learn two languages English and Thai.
Our son only started three months ago but we have seen great progress, before he spoke Russian and Thai but now he can speak English, he has learnt the English alphabet and cannot learn the Russian one.
The Learning Tree is from Two or Three years up to six years. There are four groups of different aged children, every age has a special class and a special programme.
What are the benefits of bringing your child up here?
Good health of course! There is a very famous international teacher, Maria Montessori and she created different methods for children's development. She said that one month on the beach is better for kids than one year in school.
Children here develop very fast and they have good health, are very sociable and they learn everything very fast. They live in an international, multicultural environment, so why not?!
What will be the next decisions you have to make in terms of bringing up your son?
We will finish The learning Tree school, then we will think. We will possibly move him to Si Ri Panya school but you never know, another school may open? But also maybe we will move, let’s see how Koh Phangan will change.
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