Are French kids brought up differently to kids in England or were these just some super kids we met on holiday?

[XelaM]

Just returned from a boat day trip in Greece with my teen. There were a few other families there including a French family with two little kids aged five and six. Those kids were honestly some of the "toughest" (and most well-behaved) kids I have ever come across.

To start with, I have never seen kids that age swim so well. Those tiny kids were like fish - jumping from the side of the boat and swimming with zero aids in really really deep waters. We also visited some cliffs and some jumped from the cliffs into the sea (which was SO SCARY 😱) and those little kids did that as well! Even my adventurous teen said the jump from the cliffs was scary and she couldn't believe the two little kids did it.

We were also fed freshly caught sea urchin and sea potatoes (which were an acquired taste to say the least 🤣) and I was certain the kids wouldn't try them only to see those two taking one sea urchin after another with zero complaints.

They were up for anything and you never heard a single moan or complaint out of them (unlike my 14-year-old 😏). And it's not like their parents appeared strict or disinterested - they were having fun and engaged with the kids. The kids were super friendly and chatty (when spoken to by others) but otherwise completely did their own thing not bothering anyone at all.

At the end even my teen who usually has no time for little kids was impressed and commented that "those were some hard core kids" 😅 (her words).

So clearly I went wrong in my parenting somewhere 🤪 but it made me wonder - are French kids brought up differently - maybe more independent and resilient or were those some super-human robot kids? 😁

We're friends with a few French families thanks to exchange trips and their children are amazing. Make ours look a bit faulty 😂

No, it's a thing. There are even parenting books about it :
French children don't throw food
&
French parents don't give in

You really can’t generalise. I have French nieces and nephews, they are the usual mix of fussy eaters, brave, shy, adventurous , etc etc , much like my own children . One family eats more sweet stuff than I’ve ever seen. But then one of them likes gizzards, like his father!

Have you met my French relatives 🤣

I have French relatives. Their kids are normal. Not like the ones you met.

French kids are amazing.

Their mothers are teeny tiny and they never eat carbs. They’re oh so stylish too.

French children walk everywhere and never eat ultra processed foods. French teenagers are charming too.

Parents seem to have higher expectations of kids in France . And the kids live up to it . Maybe we could learn a lesson .

What is it with the fetishisation of the french on here?

Perhaps times have changed but I as a child was like those kids, and when my sister did a French exchange I can tell you now none of the kids we met were like that at all

The French kids in our family are very resilient and 'tough' also but they can be moany and have their fair share of tantrums (even the 5+) so I do think it's a big generalisation.

The downside is I have recently seen french children being smacked by their mothers.

I used to work in a English tourist town visited by a gazillion people all the time - especially large school groups.
The French (and Italian) teens were the most rude and badly behaved ones we got 😂

Why does meeting one family for a short time make you think they must be like that all the time, cause no trouble, and be representative of the general mode of existence in their country?

Maybe they swam well and felt very comfortable in water because their parents had taught them swimming from a young age. Maybe one of the parents used to swim competitively. Maybe they ate sea urchin without complaints, but never eat any vegetables. Maybe they had no complaints (that you heard!) that day but had spent all of the day before complaining.

It was one day trip!

Their mothers are teeny tiny and they never eat carbs. They’re oh so stylish too.

Yes, but only because they all smoke like chimneys 😂

That's quite some research, OP. You met two French children and think they all behave the same.

Go to a south coast town with lots of language schools on a summer evening and the rampaging European teenagers will quickly disabuse you of any notion that kids in other countries are wonderful 😂

If you meet a family with lovely kids then you met a family with lovely kids. This is their personality. Not their nationality. I'm usually the first to speak up in defense of French people when they're accused of being rude etc as I've never had any issues and I've been numerous times
But this was just a nice family

Think MN needs a separate board for the daily French threads.

This French parenting shite really winds me up. I have met plenty of little shits who were French along with British, Polish, American, etc.

Groups of French boys in particular are terrifyingly badly behaved.

Is it not relative to age? At that age my DC would have been similar. They only moan and express an opinion more now that they are pre-teen/teens.

Only by people who appear never to have met any French people.

OP, you met two French kids who were good swimmers and adventurous eaters. It’s not a big sample size!

French children can also be timid, whiny non-swimmers with restricted diets. French women can be fat and badly-dressed. What are the other myths?

I think you just met a family with lovely kids, my friends daughters are like this, they are outgoing and adventurous and generally a pleasure to be around. They save the bickering for home and the car :P

Do you think it might be to do with an urban vs a rural upbringing, rather than nationality? City kids have very different life skills than those who have, say, grown up on the coast or in the mountains.

I have lived in France for nearly 20 years and can confirm that there are little brats here too! Also grumpy teenagers, babies who don’t sleep through, fussy eaters and toddlers who scream in supermarkets.

With the swimming... they sound like the kids when we lived in the Med (not France) of various nationalities. They swam daily in the summer months, including in the sea regularly, and were used to it. I have videos of my then 4yo leaping off the top diving board on a boat for example.