Ok, so apparently I'm really naive in my belief that European families are more strict when training their sprogs and that lazy Americans over-indulged their sprogs and let them do whatever they want.
Maybe it was just my 2 day experience in London, but sprogs there were just as obnoxious and loud as the ones back at home! We went for tea in a nice restaurant, and the table behind us let their kids run everywhere and punctuate the experience with their screams and cries. Same thing back at the hotel for breakfast. When we were walking to the Tube, a Duh was walking after his brat and halfheartedly telling it to stop as it was running down the sidewalk, and nearly ran into the street and got ran over.
If it wasn't so annoying, I would have joked that it eased my homesickness.
Anyway, just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience.
My experiences with European children are over a decade old at the moment, but that will change next summer. At the moment, my favorites are South American children. They really melt into the background.
I'm in Europe right this second and have found the kids to be better behaved.
You say you were at a hotel where some of these brats were acting up? Were they Americans?
I find kids' behavior varys by area. Where I lived in California the kids were holy terrors while the ones in Alaska are quite sweet.
Most recently I've been honeymooning in Europe and have come across several kids. One German boy was a nightmare, but I can't say all German kids are awful as there were 2 German girls that were very nice. I ran into a group of about 10 kids from somewhere in the middle east(their moms were covered in black burkas(sp?). They were out of control! But I honestly felt bad because the women looked so tired and run down and the men were standing around doing nothing to help.
Generally speaking the worst kids I've come across were Americans.
Nope, they were British brats, accent and all, LOL. I guess they technically weren't worse than Americans, but definitely no better.
When I lived in England I observed many British kids as way out of control. Of course, it depended on the age, but toddlers were shrieky little bastards with no one telling them to shut the fuck up, and the older ones could be very destructive to property and rude as hell to adults. I remember seeing one preteen in a park spraying at random people with a spray paint can, parents nowhere in sight. And British teenagers were dangerous and scary as hell. They have a very hands-off approach to parenting in the UK, with as little communication as possible, so kids are pretty independent and unguided most of the time. I can't imagine having to be a teacher over there, it would be terrifying.
Apparently, in Italy, from what I observed and what I've read, boys are golden prizes, so they are indulged and worshipped, making them the most horrible little monsters in public anyone could imagine. They're allowed to do ANYTHING they want in public, including fucking with people in shops, and destroying property, all while everyone smiles at the cute little golden boy who will someday grow up to be a distant and adulterous husband with a mommy-complex.
Back in the UK, London is absolutely packed with immigrants from the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, and they do not blend in, they bring all their customs and culture with them. I would see mothers shopping together in large packs (probably sister-wives) with huge piles of children running wild and screaming all over Oxford Street department stores like John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, etc. Since the women are only allowed to breed and shop, they do so with relish and every other shopper in their way will suffer for it. The men shop sometimes, too, and I watched in shock as two Saudi men piled their shopping trolleys so high with women's undergarments they had to look around the sides to see because they couldn't see over the top. At first I thought they worked there and were and moving inventory around, but then I watched them go to to the cash registers and buy them.
The best behaved kids I've ever seen have always been Asian kids. My Japanese friend who manages a sushi bar cannot stand screamy American brats in the restaurant, but he'd always point out the well-behaved and quiet Asian children to me, whether they were Japanese kids, or Chinese, Korean, or whatever, they were always quiet and manageable. Maybe that's the reason I don't grimace with disgust when I see little Asian kids, they're the only kids on the planet who do not repel me.