When I moved my family from the US to the Netherlands 2 years ago, I wish I'd avoided these 5 mistakes

I'm glad I moved my family from the United States to the Netherlands, but we've run into a few issues and missteps while adjusting to our new lives.

Lauren McDonnell My family made a few mistakes when we moved to the Netherlands from the US two years ago.

We should've started learning Dutch much sooner and timed our currency exchanges more strategically.

I wish I'd learned more about the Dutch healthcare system and tax advantages before we moved.

The day my son burst into tears at our kitchen table in Utrecht, I realized my meticulous spreadsheets and research hadn't prepared us for everything.

"Mom, I'm the only one who doesn't understand anything," he said, pushing away his untouched dinner.

"Everyone else is so far ahead, and I can't follow anything." That moment, hearing him talk about feeling behind in school, crystallized my first major mistake in our move from Atlanta to the Netherlands in May 2024.

Although our relocation has transformed our lives in incredible ways — offering everything from better healthcare to true work-life balance — there were several costly missteps I wish someone had warned me about.

For one, I hadn't anticipated how challenging it would be for my kids in the first six months as they adjusted to everything in their lives being new.

Here's what I learned the hard way, hoping to save other American families from the same expensive and stressful situations.

Assuming we didn't need to rush learning Dutch was a mistake Learning Dutch has helped us feel more at home in the Netherlands.

Alexander Spatari/Getty Images "Je spreekt Nederlands?" ("Do you speak Dutch?") became a daily reminder of my biggest oversight.

Yes, more than 90% of the Dutch people speak English, and that comforting statistic led me to postpone our family's learning Dutch.

Big mistake.