I am moving to Croatia.

[cutic]

We will be moving to Zagreb in the spring 2009. I am curious if there are any of you there?

[HealingBeam]

I'm from Pula, Croatia but have many friends in Zagreb, mostly MDC-like moms who are active in NGO dealing with parental and children rights.
I know few of them were browsing MDC and I hope they'll see this topic.

Maybe we could meet when I'm in Zagreb.

[cutic]

HealingBeam,

I am sorry I haven't seen your reply earlier. I was wondering how life in Croatia compares to US. Especially AP aspects of childrearing. Anyone there cloth diapering, nonvaxing and homeschooling? If you give me more info I would be very grateful.

Thanks,

[MittensKittens]

Hi

I live in Serbia. I noticed some Croatian sites selling cloth diapers, but I can't tell you more. Just wanted to say hi though Vaxing is mandatory here, but I think Croatia is a bit different (oh, and I don't vax regardless). Home schooling is definitely allowed.

[KaraBoo]

oh just had to pop in here and say how jealous I am of those of you living in Croatia. I'll never forget our vacation there in 2001. We were in Rovinj and we had the best time of our lives. Such great food and friendly people.

[HealingBeam]

Originally Posted by cutic

I was wondering how life in Croatia compares to US. Especially AP aspects of childrearing. Anyone there cloth diapering, nonvaxing and homeschooling?

I'm so sorry I didn't see your reply sooner. I'll answer anyway.. maybe it helps a bit

I don't know how is life in US so I can't compare but I can say that life in Croatia is calm and easy going despite economical problems, recession and all other problems.
The majority of parents don't know about AP and there are a lot of them that use spanking despite the law against any corporal punishment. There is a group of AP practicing parents.. they usually hang out on www.roda.hr/forum (in Croatian).
We use cloth diapers.. more and more parents do, and you can buy them in Croatia or via webshops.
There is a group of non-vaxing parents (I'm one of them). Vaxing is mandatory and you can't put your child in preschool if you don't vax without medical reasons... on the other hand, you can put your child in school without vaxing because elementary school is mandatory too and you have to put your child through school and they have to accept the child no matter if s/he's vaxed.
They (doctors and institutions) intimidate non-vaxers with punishments and paying something to the state but nothing happens if you don't vax - you just have to sign the paper where you state that you take responsibility for your non-vaxed child (they like to think they are responsible for our children’s health and wellbeing).
Homeschooling is not possible. You HAVE to put your child through elementary school or CPS can take your child away.
We have a small group of parents that are trying to do something about it but there is a long way ahead of us before we'll be able to choose between schools and HS.

We live in democratic system for nearly 20 years now but most of the people can’t get out of totalitarian state of mind and way of thinking and living, especially those working in big state institutions. But we are changing that.

I hope this covers a bit of your interests.

Keep in touch.

[Serpentina]

Welcome

HealingBeam told you everything there is to know about living in Croatia.

Preschool - you can put your child in preschool without vaxing, you just have to find a private one. (I've contacted Waldrof preschool and they told me that "Vaxing is mandatory but is not important to us")

Keep in touch

[MittensKittens]

Hey mamas, sorry to break in here (again ), I'd like to know if anyone has experience trying to homeschool their kids through elementary school in Croatia? The legality of homeschooling seems dubious here in Serbia now, the laws are similar in many ways I think. No homeschooling will mean moving for my family. If there is a loophole, I need to know about it .

[ZoraP]

I live in Slovenia and have friends in Zagreb. They're pretty natural-parenting types (the father is Australian/Croatian, mother Croatian) and they use slings and wraps to carry their babies. (The borrowed my slings for their first!) I think there is certainly a subset of people in Zagreb who are very open to these things and that you could find them.

I can't answer the homeschooling question for sure, but it's doubtful that you'd be permitted to do it, I think. That said, I'm not sure you'd find it as crucial here as you do in the States. My kids' school day only lasts from 8:20-12:00 or so, at which point I could bring them home for lunch and afternoon activities at home. (I do enroll them in the after-school program because we all like it, but that's not mandatory.) Just having them go for the morning lessons and then bringing them home for the afternoon would be great language/cultural exposure for them and you'd still have lots of time with them to do your own program. Just a thought.