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? 😁

@B@Bringbackthedodo

Yes there is an obsession with the French. French women are NOT all tiny or well-dressed and I actually moved benches when a French family sat down as they were yelling!

Slightly related... at the World Cup Japanese fans have become famous for leaving the stadium in as clean a condition as when they arrived. They stay behind and pick up any litter...nobody else does this.

This is drilled into them at school I believe. It’s part of the school day that ALL children get involved in cleaning the school. (I saw there was a poster from Japan earlier in the thread so perhaps she can confirm this).

I really like it as an idea. But I also wonder to what extent Japanese culture allows for individuality. I don’t know how I feel about super conformist societies. Don’t we need a few rebels/quirky thinkers/people who are prepared to break rules to see what happens?

I have read that France leads European states in premature, alcohol-related male deaths.

The difference might be binge drinking- very much a stereotype of Brits (though this seems to be changing, as certainly my late teen kids and their friends drink less than I did at their age!)

Why would the social responsibility of picking up litter be in any way correlated with conformism? Surely this can only be a good thing? I though Brits were really good at cleaning up after themselves, but a recent flight and trip to the cinema showed otherwise. The mess was horrendous!

Yes clearing up after ourselves is a good thing- I’m sure most of us try to instill this in our children.

I suppose what I meant is that in Japan it is part of a much wider landscape of conformity and collectivism. Working together as a group all the time. I don’t think that’s bad, and in fact we are too far the other way in the UK, where individualism is king. Maybe there is a middle ground somewhere between the two.

But yes, keeping places clean and tidy and taking responsibility for one’s own litter etc is always a good thing. I was more speaking about the way this is achieved in different cultures.

Japan has the highest rates of suicide in the world.

The British can be embarrassingly dirty and messy in public in a way I didn’t see when I lived in a different country. Leaving all their shit without a care or jot of shame. I saw a family, children, parents, grandparents just get up and walk away from their mess (picnic type stuff) in our local nice area of green we have. It was disgusting. I really wanted to go up to them and tell them what filthy c*nts they were but they didn’t look like reasonable people.😬 It was several years ago but I can still feel my blood boil over it. It took me a while to adjust being back here because of the slovenly ways (I never have really).

I think a lot of that is down to work culture. I think Japan is probably great if you’re not Japanese.

They sound like uneducated plebs not to clear their stuff away.

Poorly reared.

It was truly disgusting. Three generations, you’d think the GPs at least would know better. So it’s just going to keep going in that particular family. I should probably let it go now as it still pees me off big time and those young kids are probably (mucky) teenagers now. 😁

Thank you guys! Reading all the replies.

I know two kids don't represent a nation. I was just in awe of them and wondering if they had discovered some kind of secret to parenthood most of us haven't 😅

Oh, come on. The OP is making a huge generalisation by even needing to ask the question. A friend of mine, who is a secondary school teacher, was asked through her work if she would like to host a couple of summer school French students. She was excited to accept. The whole thing was a nightmare and on day 2 she had to contact the person in charge of the summer school to say they needed to collect them. They refused to stop smoking in the bedroom, drew on the walls, broke a lamp by throwing it against the wall and ripped the wardrobe door off the hinges. Yet this didn't lead her to leap to the generalisation that it could be all French children. I can only imagine the responses she would have got on mumsnet for even asking...

Oh I’ve missed bluey as I’ve a teenager but I’ll use this as an excuse to look!

My Italian experience was with American kids, they were on the same tour as us and oh could they whine. We were queuing up to get into the Vatican, it was hot, we were all hot but they were the only ones loudly moaning. Then we got the famous line, "Why didn't they build these places with air conditioning." The laughter round them puzzled them and they looked round with puzzled looks.

Has anyone watched king Gary? The episode where the mum is beside herself when she spots a French couple at the pool and tries to make friends. The French dad thinks they are awful and palms his child off on Gary . It’s a bit similar to how much the French are fetishised on here. The chap who plays the French dad does it with such disdain it’s brilliant.

So my two French exchange students, miserable, sulky, fussy eaters must have been in my imagination. The German boy who stayed was an absolute delight, maybe that means all German kids are just like him.

Well I'm teetotal so my kids/adult grandkids drink more than I do but I do think my teenager GC and their friends seem to be moderate drinkers.

And most shops are closed. Mostly.

Isn't every country 'awesome' if you 'discount the grotty bits'?

@IcedPurple nope France IS pretty much awesome.

What an unhelpful comment. This post is essentially the OP doing that research. She is literally asking if that’s a normal thing or she just met particular amazing kids. She is asking not stating.

At no point she said “I have met 2 kids and I can now confirm based on this research all kids are the same”.