I would be a bad mum... if I still lived in Germany! Or: differences in traditions and guidelines

Mil is German and Austrian.
She is lovely but my fails so far have been
Not putting the children in vests at all times - they will get pneumonia
Not feeding peppermint tea with honey in from 2 months
Not leaving them to sleep outside
Not making them walk miles when very little
Not knitting all their clothes
Not giving schnapps to aid teething
Not hoping to the docs regularly even if they aren't actually ill
Not analysing every poo

I asked my jamaican dp about the difference between there and here.

He said over here you have a baby and your house is packed with everyone coming over and wanting to meet the baby. In Jamaica (he's country so even worse) no but the inner circle of immediate family come in your house for the first couple of months so not to invite spirits in.

Also your with your baby constantly for the first year, yes you might go out for a few drinks but your mum/sister stays at yours with the baby you would never have someone have your baby overnight.

and plenty of smacking and no car seats goes on as well.

There's a few conflicts over when you should cut their hair, dps dm says don't cut it till they can talk or they will have speech problems and others say till they're two. dp also is a snot sucker LOL.

I worked for a British family as a nanny for a few years in Germany (moved across with them). They had a child with profound sen. She went to a regular kindergarten, they went out of their way to include her in all activities including a residential trip where one lovely lady slept on a mattress on the floor with her to keep her safe. The attitude was 'how do you know what she can do/will enjoy until you've tried'. It really challenged my thinking- I found that beforehand I had looking at the diagnosis instead of the person. I'm a far better nanny now.
After kindergarten she moved to an sen school, they operated on the same principle. Very positive, refreshing experience.

Oh yes, all children in Estonia would change to either slippers or clean indoor shoes - and not only in kindergartens, also in school, up to university level.

Big changes in temperature one day to the next and back again: yy to the Germans forgetting about viruses.

The big downy duvet wasn't in fashion any more when I had my first 15 years ago. She was in sleeping bags of different thickness throughout the year.
Lots of my German friends sleep with their windows open all year round and we like a warm bedroom.

The Pantoffel obsession is very true, but then a lot of the German houses have tiled floor everywhere with underfloor heating, which is off sometimes. Most basements are tiled and have no underfloor heating. Walking on those with bare feet is a shock to the system.

Lots of Kindergartens require the children to bring their slippers, they wouldn't dream of letting the kids run around rooms in street shoes and play on the floor afterwards.
I still find it irritating that children run around the classroom in their shoes and then sit on the floor (carpet) in the dirt.

My mother thinks the garlicky hummus that baby DD loves will give her a stomach ache.

Israel: i think the peanut thing is because hummous is an ideal weaning food especially if home made and made with tahini paste. so not peanut wotsits! also i would refute the poster who said Israeli kids are feral, they are assertive because they have to be. the whole country is assertive. even my shy English (half Israeli) child found some balls to stand up to his cousin last summer. "loh, seh sheli" "no, it's mine" snatching it back. otherwise you just get ignored or trampled on (not literally)

Not sure monopoly I know in China women are encouraged to stay inside for a month after birth and are looked after by relatives. I can't imagine staying in that long! I do think though here in the UK we don't rest enough after giving birth, there is a lot of pressure to look slim quickly and get on with things.

I did scoff about the temp change thing but I think there is some evidence that you get a worse flu season when the weather fluctuates a lot during the winter, maybe because the viruses survive better. There's also something about how very cold dry weather constricts the bronchioles so can exacerbate respiratory infections. It's not to do with you going from a hot place to a cold place though. Still not sure how right this is, but in Hk this year we had a really odd winter- big temp fluctuations- puffas to t-shirts overnight and back again. It has been a terrible winter for really aggressive colds and flu. My teacher friends say that some weeks only half the class has been there.

Is there something in either Malaysian or Manderin culture about sleeping in the bed the baby was conceived in for the duration of the pregnancy - no holidays, no new beds?

If massive temp changes made you sick I'd have never been well as a kid in the winter...going from the 88 degree (your temp) sauna directly into the -30 air and rolling around in a snowbank would have done me in! :o

Was never brave enough to jump through the ice but my dad and brother did all the time.

I have thought of another one. The Fon. When this warm wind blows, everyone blames headaches on it and nods knowledgeably if a child reports feeling unwell. 'Of course it will be that!' they say. 'It's the Fon!'

I think the 'wet hair is bad' idea has translated across to the UK. I rarely blow dry my (or my DD's) hair and DH is forever saying we will catch cold as a result.

I'm laughing at the idea of people thinking we dress too thinly in the UK too. DD2 is as tough as her Dad as far as temperature is concerned. She needs to be made to don her coat even in the coldest weather as she doesn't like wearing too much. She's often out in shorts and a t shirt in the cold. She never notices.

It's not just Germans - Malaysians think temperature changes make you ill too. :) This is especially interesting since it is just hot all year round.

I agree about the Germans thinking air changes will make you ill. My next door neighbor is German and last summer when we were chatting I mentioned baby DD was sick. He said "well with this weather, one day it is hot, next day it is not so. Everyone gets ill!" :)

Lederhosen surely.... shorts are not unknown in Germany?

Those Finns are clever

Americans are funny like that...where I grew up we talk about being Finnish and there are parts of the culture that remain and it's a pride sort of thing. Yet it's been a hundred years at least since my great grandparents came here.

I am German as well, and even after having lived in the UK for more than a decade, I can never get over the flimsy way parents dress their wee ones. Someone needs to tell them they're not in Spain :-) In this country, you will never ever need anything short-sleeved, let alone shorts! Those designers of school uniforms must be brought to justice ;-)

Another German here, have been in the UK for 18 years and had both DC here so I don't know a lot about german child rearing but here are a few things I have observed.
My german SIL is pregnant at the moment and as soon as she informed work she did not have to work nights and weekends anymore, its the law apparently. Lucky thing.
German prams and pushchairs are huge and must have proper suspension and the baby must be covered by an enormous feather duvet at all times.
You must wear slippers indoors. My grandmother still follows me round with a pair of slippers when I'm at home and will not rest until I give up and put them on. My mother was visiting when DD2 was a few weeks old and the health visitor was coming round. My mother told me I should put socks and slippers on DD1 or I might get in trouble with social services.Bare feet =neglect apparently. We have carpet everywhere and a very warm flat. I laughed, thinking she was joking. She was serious!
BLW is unheard off. The first time we visited with DD and went out to eat(not anywhere terribly posh) I gave her some pasta shapes on her high chair tray. She was actually not a very messy eater and was not throwing it around or anything. Regardless, the people at the next table were clearly stunned by such slovenly behaviour.
I have a german friend whose 14 month old has never been allowed to feed himself with a spoon. Because she makes a mess. Not sure how she is supposed to learn how to use a spoon!
All babies must have various check ups with a paediatrician, 6 in the first year.They don't have health visitors.

Eyebrows were raised by my Iranian in- laws because:

I weaned my baby too early (6 months).

He has a set bed time routine and goes to bed before us. DS's cousins (aged four and under) are all still awake when they Skype us at gone midnight their time!

I used cloth nappies occasionally. They never knew they existed.

I discipline him by telling him off when he touches things he shouldn't for example. He's too young at 16 months to understand apparently.

I work four days a week. How do you do it they ask me, you must be exhausted. Yes but I have no choice. We wouldn't survive if I didn't.

I like the pack of condoms in the Finnish baby box

DH from Sudan. We visited years ago when DDs were small.

There were No seat belts in cars
His sisters insisted on putting oil on their hair after I had washed it
No set bedtimes ever
All girls had ears pierced when very young, mine still haven't.

I conceived dd1 in Oman but was very pleased to give birth here as in Oman the doctors were totally unsympathetic to my horrendous morning sickness and I was basically told to get on with my job, no time off.

And women give birth over there with only a midwife present, no DH, mother or sister.

I love the Finnish baby box!

We had a lovely life in the US and a great neighborhood, when we moved in various neighbors came over with pies and cookies. When DD2 was spending a lot of time in hospital and I was with her, our neighbors came over and planted up all our empty planters on our front porch with spring flowers. I am very grateful to the US because I was completely ignorant about babies and BFing and was extremely surprised to find my cynical London self nursing longterm but it was smooth sailing because of all the great support and advice I got from various sources in the US. We also coslept but that happened sort of by accident too. I called the free Nurse's helpline at the local Children's hospital asking about something completely unrelated when the nurse I was talking to asked if six month DD1 was in her own room. I said no, and the Nurse insisted we should get her in her own room ASAP. After that phone call I got very worried as I didn't have any close friends with kids at that point, so I tried frantically to call my Pharmacist friend in England and mother of eight to get her advice but I couldn't get hold of her.

Finally I told DH that we needed to move DD1 into her own room. He said why? I told him about the phonecall and he just said "but I don't want her down the corridor I like her in the bed with us". I was so relieved! I said "Really? Alright great let's just keep doing whatever it is we're doing". At that stage I had not read about attachment parenting or whatever, we just were doing what came naturally. But according to some Indian friends it could also be called Indian parenting!