...to think that the most interesting adults I know were wild and untameable as children?

[duchesse]

I fact I can't think of a single interesting adult I know who was good, sweet, obedient, well-mannered, helpful and selfless as a child.

AIBU to think that maybe it's unreasonable to expect children to be all these things? I mean, sure, I expect them to work towards being good as they get older (in fact DS who was WILD!! is almost human now at 17.5), but I welcome a slightly wild streak in my children- I think it's a sign of individuality.

That might be the case for you but I disagree completely. The wildest child/teenager I knew is now a selfish, emotionally stunted muppet. One of my best friends was a model child/teenager and she is witty, interesting and kind.

I agree with EVERYTHING Pag said

I want a tramp.

My husband has a nice tramp who wishes him good morning as dh is en route to the station.

Sadly the tramps nearer our house tend to shit on the verges which may be more interesting but is slightly less sociable.

I want to live in a world where the tramps are gentlemen of the road and probably can, if asked, tap dance delightfully.

I would call it Mallory Towers Land. We would have scones often but there would be no obesity. There would be jolly plumpness. What fun.

Would he appear occasionally at your Tradesman's entrance for some fresh mulligatawny, and have his ears boxed by Cook, Paggy?

Am HOWLING at "our tramp"

I'd quite like a tramp that visited weekly and mowed my lawn in exchange for a cheese sandwich and a bed for the night on a pile of hay in my derelict coach house. I'd take some hot casserole out to him at night as well. And I'd give him sixpence and wish him well 'til next time.

Anyway, the reason most homeless people are homeless is because their 'wild and untamable' side has meant they are unable to hold down a job, accept authority, resist addictive habits, form decent relationships, or function in normal society due to MH issues. All of which may be jolly 'interesting' but not a terribly good thing to aspire to.

I prefer to use the term "high spirited" rather than "wild and untameable". IMO high spirited children are the most intelligent - when I say high spirited I mean the sort of child that won't stop doing things they are told not too until experience tells them not to do it (ie, slamming their hands in drawers etc).

Those children that carry on doing dangerous things after they have had their knocks are just foolhardy and a bit daft.

Colin ("our" tramp for want of a more succinct decription) honours us by choosing to visit occasionally and sleep in our shed and converse for hours about everything under the sun. He has a round of friends up and down the country and he visits maybe two or three times a year, stays for a few days, and then hits the roads again. He's not a drug addict although he was in the past, but he is an alcoholic who goes on benders whenever he has any money. The only way he has found of combating his alcoholism is to ensure he never has any money- hence his chosen way of life. He is endlessly resourceful yet unerringly polite. His attitude to material possessions is truly humbling and I feel richer for knowing him.

Oh, and I suspect the vast majority of them have suffered from absolutely shit parenting. Which brings us back to the original question....

fellatio- you are right about Colin's parenting. His parents were both alcoholics, and even though he got into grammar school (he's in his late 50s now) and attended it for a few years, he left at 15 to go into the merchant navy under the care of a favourite uncle. He says that the merchant navy was the closest he's known to a family.

And no Carlsberg lager, Buckfast, heroin or amphetimine either, Pag, yeah?

I'd like for Tweaker, our pet meth addict in the next close who annoyingly shares a wall with us in this shoddily built, uninsulated block, to move out and be replaced by a Colin who'd like a permanent shelter. I'll bet Colin doesn't blast rave/techno all night.

The flat downstairs houses homeless people who are waiting for permanent lodging.

I'd like for Colin's brother to move in after the latest ned who likes to blast loud hip hop moves out.

We could play folk music and go to bed at a reasonable hour.

nah expat, Colin is a classical music man (he has a walkman). He wouldn't want to live in your crack head's flat though, alas.

LOL at "WILD" (with exclamation marks)!!! and untamable equalling a bit of camping.
I wonder if there was fishing involved.
I think you're going to have to give us more examples of wild and untamable behaviour that makes DCs more interesting.

Incidently I've found as an adult, that actually, the quiet, maybe geeky, shyer, could even have been called boring at school, kids have grown to be more interesting.

I'd like for someone who is friggin' quiet to honour us by sharing walls.

Gah, the junk/speed dealer before HipHopGirl was awful to live over.

I wished he were a tramp and not living under us making our lives hell. He was apparently wild as a child, too.

And then the alcoholic after him. What joy he was, too.

I want a nice pet tramp!

I'll swap Colin for one of our local tramps who counts amongst one of his hobbies, the delightful pastime of seagulling.

seagulling??

I keep hoping Tweaker finally gets a longer sentence and/or reminded in custody and looses his tenancy.

The downstairs flat is somewhat easier in that those homeless are not tenants, it's temp accommodation.

But Tweaker's a full tenant so harder to get rid of.

He was gone for a while, in jail, and was able to pay his rent (no shit, he's a speed dealer), but they let him out all too soon.

Oh, his damn dog howls its head off, too, whenever he's not there . . .

The most delicate of posters may not wish to click

Can I ask Expat - do you know why he's called Tweaker?

OK, I just googled that and wish I hadn't. Colin is so damned sociable!

His real name is Doug, Aint. I call him Tweaker because he's a tweakhead - a meth head.

He keeps tweak hours - all night, late at night - too.

I don't know, I have no idea what my friends were like as children.
I like individuality too in children, but it doesn't mean they have to be a pain in the neck

at seagulling
....I'd thought you meant shooting seagulls. Silly me.
You learn something new everyday.

Applauds LaWeasel who said just what I was thinking.

If interesting = open to new experiences and tolerant of others then surely the well-behaved, polite children are more likely to fall into this category, rather than the wild children who don't care what other people say but run rampant.

Well-behaved and polite does not equal dull. And I have many many interesting friends who prove my point.

PS - thanks to all the other posters who've made me laugh out loud reading this thread

Almost 20% of the prison population is thought to have undiagnosed ADHD www.policeoracle.com/news/All-Prisoners-To-Be-Tested-For-ADHD_21230.html. Approximately 5% of the population are estimated to have ADHD, diagnosed or undiagnosed. Many of the 'wild childs' that we remember from school, probably had ADHD, and if undiagnosed (which was usually the case in the 70s and 80s, may well have gone on to live less than conformist lives, with drug/alcohol addictions being very likely, simply because they cannot easily fit into society's norms.

They don't make 'interesting people', they make unhappy people.

Thanks Expat - what an apt name. Must be a 'mare living next door.