Has anyone actually got children as beautifully behaved and polite as the ones in The Railway Children?

[Tinker]

How did they manage it?

Did children really used to be like that?

I want some.

in my dreams I have....

Yes, of course, aren't all children like that?

But isn't there a scene where Peter steals some coal?

My kids are like that!!

LOL that book was based on some family friends of mine!

But does he feel very guilty about it and own up? Can't remember now.

I want children who speak like Bobbie.

yeah right lol, they're little sods, i wish they did have manners like that!

I remember reading about how when they were filming it, the actress who played Phyllis (who is the younger sister in the story) was actually older than Jenny Agutter and used to take her out to nightclubs and corrupt her.

How do/did people do it though? No tv? Home education? Slightly socially isolated?

Yeah, she was about 30 I think.

My two are perfectly capable of behaving like that; it's just that they choose when to do so and wouldn't dream of doing it on request. The rest of the time they are sniping, arguing protesting and door slamming as is normal for kids of their age.

Those were the children we thought we would bring up before we had them.

Those were other times, children had no say in family decisions and were certainly smacked. I think that is exactly like today, you have wonderfully behaved ones and others on which normal discipline tactics do not work.

BTW, I'm not saying that smacking is OK and for that reason they were better behaved, nothing further from it, I just see that the good ones make good stories and the bad ones are forgotten.

IMO, mine is like that for whole hours at a time. In other people's minds, he is probably a horrible disruptive brat, but I am happy.

aren't they victorian children? they were all like that, ah i love that film

at Bobbie being smacked Think they were just born like that.

they were all upper middle class children though weren't they, the rest of the oiks were up chinmeys or pickin' pockets

No....

Oh yes. My two are like that all the time.

And.

If they ae not I lock them in the coal scuttle until they behave.

i have been staying with an aunt whilst visiting oldham this weekend - she was off to work this morning beofre i got up - and have come home today - she left me a note

"your daughter is very well mannered and delightful. she is a credit to you, well done"

and all my children are - or i would go apeshit - its v. important to me.

Ds (2) is like this for hours/days at a time ... and this is balanced out by him not being like this for hours/days at a time. Ebbs and flows. But definitely not always this way. I only know one or two adults who can be this pleasant 99% of the time, so it's not reasonable to expect young kids to have it sussed ... is it?

dd1 (3yrs 6mths) is very well behaved and sits quietly etc. Unless tired and she can be, erm, horrid.

dd2 is a whirlwind but is only ickle (22 months) so allowed imo.

DS2 monned at me through the school window today

how embarassing???????

My children CAN be, but they CAN be awful as well. Last week I smugly took them round our local shopping centre (all 3) - ds2 in pram beaming at everyone, ds 1 (5) and dd(2) holding either side of the pram, even in ELC, resisting the lure of the toys. I stood there smugly (having so often been the one with the kids running out of control round the shop), so smugly, that I left my card in the Chip and Pin machine and have got to wait a week for a new one, so pride really does come before a fall!