It is difficult to know what my children really think of their new life in America. They seem happy and my 8-year-old says she enjoys school. I know she misses her friends but I sometimes wonder whether she really fits in with her loud American classmates who chatter endlessly about One Direction.

We have recently allowed her to have her first laptop so now for the first time she can check email on a regular basis. In some weird late at night moment, I decided to email her some questions about life in America to share here and asked her to think of some questions for me that she could post on her blog. I’m still waiting for those but here are her thoughts.

1. What do you like best about living in America?

The best thing is the fact that I have my own bathroom. (Yes she does spend a lot of time in it, a taste of things to come I fear).

2. Are there any things that annoy you here in America?

Adverts ie. bla bla bla very fatty pizza 🙂

3. If you could bring one thing from England to America what would it be?

My friends  (ditto).

4. What do you miss most from England?

I miss my old school.

5. If you were to go back to England, what would you miss from America?

I would miss laughing when people try to do a British accent

6. Are American children different from English children and if so how?

Children are different mainly because of the words they use i.e. perenthusees.

7. What advice would you give to someone moving here?

Be prepared for the adverts.

What I found interesting about her responses was her focus on the immediate, day-to-day aspects of life. I expected  places we had visited or new activities to feature in her answers.

I tried asking my 4-year-old the same questions. We had to spend additional time talking through the questions and she was keen to see what her sister had said before answering but she gave some interesting responses.

As expected the things she misses most are friends and her old playgroup. When asked whether children were different here she thought for a while before saying

They don’t know how to share. All the children in my old playgroup shared their things but none of the children here do.

She found it very difficult to say what she liked about America because she couldn’t think of anything she  likes to do here that she can’t also do in England – she likes learning to do cartwheels with her imaginary friend, playing nail salons with her big sister, making up shows and playing Mastermind.