You Know You’ve Got A Dubai Kid When….

Often people hear the term Dubai Kid and immediately think of an entitled expat brat.  Which is (in the majority of cases) completely untrue. They are (generally speaking, other than your normal kid behaviour) world’s apart.  A Dubai Kid is just that.  A kid that happens to be being raised in Dubai.  Being a Dubai Kid doesn’t mean you lose the ability to say please and thank you.  It doesn’t mean you think you’re above everybody else.  It doesn’t mean you are an expat brat.  Being a Dubai Kid means you’re exposed to different things in life.  Things that are Only in Dubai.

Last weekend we went out to brunch, the all-singing all-dancing food and drink extravaganza.  Lobster was on offer, and doing baby led weaning I promptly removed some from my plate and plonked it on the highchair tray.  Where the Baby gobbled it up.  And loved it.  Now let’s remember that the Baby is only 9 months old.  Munching on lobster.  A complete Dubai Kid before he reaches his first birthday.  He would never have had lobster had we been in the UK, simply because I wouldn’t have had lobster.  Nor will he be likely to get it again because I didn’t like it but that’s another story….

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And it’s not just my two who are growing up as Dubai Kids, there are a whole host of them out there.  And kids being kids, well they just have a way of saying things that make you want the ground to swallow you up, like these Mummy’s of Dubai Kids.

You Know you have a Dubai Kid…. Food

They reject fishfingers, instead requesting soft shell crab  ~ LH

You send them to school with sushi in their lunchbox instead of sandwiches and an apple ~ KD

Anytime the doorbell rings they shout “diiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnner” ~ RL

When you tell them you are going to put the pizza in the oven and they ask you to order one in instead ~ HP

When “I fancy brunch” is the first answer to “where should we go out for lunch today?” ~ JR (girl after my own heart here, you can never go wrong with brunch….)

When my 6 month started solids we did baby led weaning. His first steak was wagyu fillet in a 5 star restaurant. Demolished it! ~ NS

steak

At Brunch most kids get the taste for the exotic; 11yr old says “Where’s the Sushi Mum” & 9yr old comes back from searching the buffett, “Mum I cant find the Tempura Prawns! They must have them!” ~ HR

Whenever I ask my daughter (4) and son (2) what they fancy for lunch/dinner they ALWAYS say Sumo ~ JB

You have to hide dinner party caviar cause 9 year old would raid it after school. ~ AB

When you try to educate your 5 year old child about what a chip butty is and they say they’d prefer a chappati! ~ NC

My 5 yo son’s best mate was showing off a watch that he’d received in a happy meal and said “McDonald’s is my favourite restaurant.” He replied “Mine is Zuma” ~ LB

“Mum my favorite restaurant was The Ivy but now its Asia Asia.. ” ~ SM

My 4yr olds favourite food is calamari, thanks to brunch ~ RW

You know you have a Dubai Kid…. Weather

When my son was two and a half he asked my sister, “Aunty, what’s a coat?” ~ AA

My 8 year old asked to go to live in Ireland. Why you want to live there I asked? Cause the schools shut when it rains, and it rains a lot there! ~ ES

When it’s 16 degrees and your 3yo daughter announces “I’m freezing mum, I need gloves on” ~ AM

gloves

My kids said a few weeks ago “Oh my goodness Mum, are we still going to go to school if it RAINS????” ~ HR

When it rains, and your kids want to play in it. ~ JC

rain in dubai

Your child wearing socks with flip flops and using an umbrella to keep the sun off. ~ SW

When your child gets excited and rushes to get her wellies and umbrella to go and play outside in the rain…in just her knickers! ~ KD

You know you have a Dubai Kid…. Driving

Playing outside in the garden in her car she pulls up next to me and says can I get petrol and a coffee please… ~ ES

“Daddy, when this car gets old can we get a Lamborghini?” ~ GW

lamborghini

Your child knows a Maserati is coming because “I can just hear it” ~ CO’C

Why are you not valet parking mam? Because Asda don’t do valet parking darling…. ~ WG

Trying to find a parking space in a car park in Hull my son pipes just valet park Mummy!!!! ~ KG

My husband got out he car at the petrol station in the UK to fill the car. My daughter, then 3, asked what he was doing and where the man was! ~ JB

We always had a strict rule of no talking on the motorways (due to my need to concentrate whilst driving on the SZR when we first arrived). I remember telling the girls to be quiet one summer in England when we were about to join the M1. About 10 mins later, the eldest pipes up: Mummy, when are we going on the motorway? To which I reply, we are already on it, this is the M1. Her response: what, this tiny little road? ~ NB

You know you have a Dubai Kid…. Travel

She travels Ryanair and is looking for the TV… Age 2! ~ EO’D

We flew on Ryan Air and boarded the plane first. Both boys ran down the plane looking for a seat with a TV…. ~ SM

My then 6yr old daughter was listening to her visiting grandmother’s story about her flight out to Dubai and suddenly looked horror-struck and said; “Grammy! You didn’t have to fly economy, did you?!” ~ NB

Travelling budget airline in Europe with my then 3yo son who asked very loudly “But where is my bed Mummy? There’s nowhere to sleep.” ~ RC

You know you have a Dubai Kid…. Sports

When every weekend he wants to hit the golf course to practice instead of going to the playground!! ~ Harkee AS They Grow

You know you have a Dubai Kid…. Shopping

Whilst standing in the queue in Asda my 4 year old asked the cashier to get the man to pack the bags *mortified* ~ ST

You know you have a Dubai Kid…. Houses

We house sat for some friends, my then 6 year old came to be looking worried. “Mummy, I’m a little concerned, there’s no ensuite in my bedroom” ~ LW

First when in Glasgow my daughter asks my mum if she could please turn the A/c off *it’s just cold*
Also back in Glasgow they then ask my parents how they manage with only one bathroom in their house ~ EE

When we visit people in the UK, my kids seem genuinely confused when they can’t find the ‘playroom’ ~ RL

You know you have a Dubai Kid…. Help

On a trip back to UK my then four year old asked her grandma why she was hanging out the washing and was it the maids day off ~ DM

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“Shall we wash the car together this weekend?” My husband asked my then 2 year old son “No Daddy, Aftab cleans our car!” ~ AW

We went to see my friends dog who had puppies at home over the summer and my youngest daughter asked where the nanny dog was to help the mummy dog ~ BO’C

If they don’t have a nanny, who takes them to the park?? ~ GW

You know you have a Dubai Kid…. Back in the UK

We went to London for the summer and my sister-in-law drove us around sight seeing around the the West End.
Coming up to Buckingham palace I shouted “Aye boys look Buckingham Palace”
My 6 year said “Oh thank god, a Hotel, are we staying there tonight?” ~ SK

When your child holds their hands under a tap seemingly bemused as to why water doesn’t ‘just come out’ ~ CO’C

When we flew back to the UK for the first time, and my 3 year old daughter stuck her hands under the tap in the public toilets at the airport to declare they were broken as they didn’t come on automatically for her! ~ VD

When the 4 kids are starving during a food shop back in the UK during the summer and I agree (begrudgingly) to take them into the Sainsbury’s cafe. They queue up with their tray, I pay and they eat. Once they’re finished they all get up, in unison and head back with their tray and when I asked them where they were going, they all look at me in disgust and say “To get more, this is a brunch yeah?” … Err no, you only get one helping! ~ SS

When my son was 5 we visited a friend in the UK and his first question was “Where is your pool?” ~ CM

When we were in the UK last summer my 3 year old daughter told my mum she needs to get a new gardener because there was mess (leaves) everywhere! ~ LM

On summer holiday in the UK daughter was upset when we tried to open the house windows.  “You’ll let all the hot air in” was her plea. ~ LW

Daughter in the UK looking for the water cooler. I said use the tap. “Can we drink the water here then?” ~ LW

tap

When you go to UK and your kids point to the radiator puzzled asking “what’s that ????” ~ KB

My son had a freak out about the “weird white things on the wall that burn you and swallow toys”……. That will be a radiator then ~ CW

radiator

You know you have a Dubai Kid when….

When they are not shocked or puzzled by people of different origins and different cultures. They embrace everyone as equal and normal. ~ ONM

And that is the final word. Living in Dubai is living in a mix of cultures and traditions, that our children not only get to learn about but often get to experience first hand.

You can also find me hanging around over on Facebook for more giggles, and, to be honest, a lot of photo spam of the boys

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this is a collaborative post - and many thanks to the ladies of "British Mums Dubai" for their help

4 Comments

  1. Soleil
    February 9, 2016 / 11:00 pm

    I don’t know whether to laugh or cry! I raised my children in Dubai from birth and never had the appalling responses you seem to have had. Not so much ‘Out of the mouth of babes’ but ‘Out of the mouths of seriously spoilt brats”. Nothing to be proud of.

  2. Chickie
    February 10, 2016 / 2:01 pm

    You start off by saying that children Dubai are thought of as ” entitled expat brat. ” followed by “Which is completely untrue.” Then proceed to give loads of examples of entitled expat brats…
    Apart from being able to relatte to the weather quotes, the rest had me cringing.

    • Laura
      Author
      February 11, 2016 / 10:16 am

      It can be untrue, and I certainly hope that my boys aren’t expat brats.

      The thing is that the quotes given are just one off examples that people shared with me, it doesn’t mean that this is what happens in their every day life, I don’t know them to say. But I am fairly sure that if their kids are saying these things they are also being pulled up on it from the comments that were shared with me.

      I do know my children though – my baby who ate lobster once in his life is much more likely to eat chicken nuggets the rest of the time, but if I am eating something why wouldn’t I share it with him? My 3 year old isn’t used to Mummy or Daddy getting out of the car to put petrol in so questions when we do in the UK, I encourage him to question it’s how he learns. And he definitely dislikes radiators not understanding why they are hot.because we haven’t really been back in the UK when it is cold for them to be on (managing to hit the heat wave every year….)

      And I know that there are entitled expat brats out there. Same as anywhere else in the world. On top of that, what you or I feel is entitled to someone else may not be. It’s all about perspective.

      Yes some examples *might* to some be a little

  3. Bunkum
    February 11, 2016 / 2:10 pm

    I’m afraid this says more about the parents than it does the “Dubai kids”… Uncomfortable, rather than amusing reading I’m afraid… Although as Chickie says, their confusion with the weather and radiators is understandable !!

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