Children

[idun]

Been a lot of derogatory comments on here about british children and I would like to know why.

In May we crossed Dover Calais, and it was full of french kids, and they were up to mischief, one boy seemed to be being bullied and when I said something they moved off, next thing rubbish was being thrown over board. Return journey, Zeebrugge / Hull and british kids were not quite running around, but walking very very quickly and were a bit noisy, but not that much that we had to move. And over the years we have had the reverse of this too.

A good friend used to do regular maintenance at Dover Castle and found the french kids a nightmare and he thought light fingered too, especially at the gift shop.

Some kids behave badly, they do. Is it really about nationality or just kids?

Incidentally, for 15 years I used to take french kids on trips, so I am quite aware of how good and bad they can be.

[Chancer]

There is a group dynamic that comes into play with any group of schoolchildren away from home whatever their nationality, when I have been a surveillant on trips to the UK with French schoolkids the teachers have been very much on top of them and curbing their enthusiasm but they are a good bunch of teachers and very "engaged" they work together as a team and realise that these trips like our sortie d'intégrations are about forming a group spirit amongst the eleves, in general the teachers accompanying the UK groups have been very good and whilst they might have had their hands full and working with somwhat coarser raw material they realise that they are carrying the reputation of the school publically.

 

And then there are the nightmare crossings that I ahve had with very unruly French kids, but thats unfair to them, they are not to blame, they were accompanied by teachers and surveillants who were conspicous by their absence who were just on a free holiday and wanted nothing more than to get away from their charges, kids are just kids, its how they are brought up their boundarys and discipline that matters, in France that is shared equally by the school and the family assuming that neither one is dysfunctional.

 

I had some awfully behaved and noisy British kids staying here recently, completely the fault of the disengaged parents that spent all their time staring at their smartphones, the youngest had developed that high pitched scream for attention that makes my ears bleed every time in a UK supermarket (mothers as usual staring at their phones immune to the noise) I never hear it in France until about 4 weeks into les grand vacances and its always children of marginal families with their grandparents, I believe that all the time they have the discipline, boundaries and proper food 5 days a week at school they are typical well behaved French children but after 4 weeks back with the bad families they become like their UK counterparts.

 

I find nearly all French children and adolescents a pleasure to know and spend time with whereas its quite rare for me to find the same nowadays in the UK and yet I live in a very bad area here compared to my area in the UK.

[Gluestick]

Excellent and pragmatic analysis, Chancer.

ALL kids behave very badly indeed, lacking parental or other close supervision.

Once returned from France with my son on a P and O ferry, years back.

The boat was alive with unsupervised French youngsters, running amok.

Despite not needing any, nor the attendant cost, we repaired to Langham's Restaurant for a decent luncheon for peace of mind.

In our local Carrefour, nearly all the French children are well behaved and any deviance is slapped down immediately, by their parent/s.

In the UK, however, in particularly Chavda, Tesco, Aldi and Lidl, the damned kids are an utter nightmare.

Yet so are the adults below 50 years old.........

[woolybanana]

Yes, kids do run amuck when unsupervised or in big groups, when no control is exercised, like using cattle pens.

However, Gluey almost doesn't go far enough when he mentions that French parents slap down bad behaviour; the problem is that British parents in general do not seem to, but are happy to let their little mutts run wild.

On another note, many years ago, I did a late night crossing with my two daughters, Ostend to Dover, I think. on board was a party of sixth formers from a london school.

Well, my dears, they ran amuck, drunk noisy, throwing stuff, drunk, running around, shouting and screaming, some words even I did not know, hosepipes out ..... . On arrival they were made to leave from the car deck where a large body of police (port or ordinary?) were waiting, and they were not happy at being dragged down at six o'clock odd in the morning.

What is so sad is that their teachers, minders, guides or whatever, did nothing to stop the riot beyond once looking at the scene and then retiring to their hidden and cosy corner.

[Rabbie]

To be fair to the kids the problem often lies with their parents who see disinclined to impose any discipline whatsoever. Most children want to know where the barriers are and will respect these provided the rules are enforced consistently. There does see to be a element in UK society that think that any rules do not apply to their children regardless of the disruption this causes to other people.

[Gluestick]

Interesting experience of which I am just recovering........

Having returned from a two+ week sojourn in la belle just late yesterday, Ms G and I picked a large quantity of ripe damsons from our garden. Destined for jam and damson and apple pies etc.

Quelle horreure! Needed sugar.

Thus I volunteered to visit the local Chavda store.

What an amazing contrast between our local Carrefour and Chavda!!

The great unwashed were wobbling (literally; great bobs of adipose tissue bulging out in all directions. Yuk! [:'(] ) into the place, replete with copious tattoos and tribes of nasty kids; these kids were even roller skating in the store! Running around screaming and shouting (that was just the damned parents!) etc etc.

Delightful experience.

Not.

Leaving the car park was fun, too, Cars simply reversing from bays without looking.

Still, returning to relative peace and tranquillity in early October, thank goodness,

[Gluestick]

@ Wooly and Rabbie.

Agree completely.

Thus speaks an ex Secondary School Guv, of quite a few years back.

It's far worse now, I understand.

Mainly since society has become far too litigious, plus the left wing Liberal mindset proscribes proper discipline and ensuing sanction.

School annual meeting (a statutory requirement): it was normal to see perhaps ten parents at this meeting when the school had upwards of 800 pupils.

Says it all.

[Chancer]

Twice since la rentrée I have had to put in my earplugs at the check-out in Lidl, if my hypothesis is correct then the problem will have gone away in another week and wont return until a couple of weeks into les grande vacances 2017 with perhaps just a little febrility during the Christmas break.

 

Or I could shop at Intermarché and not need the earplugs!

[EuroTrash]

Interestingly I find British school groups better behaved than French school groups, and French kids travelling with their parents and families better behaved than English kids with their parents and families. Does that mean British kids have more respect for their teachers than for their parents, and vice versa for French kids? I don't know.

[alittlebitfrench]

What about half French and half English ?

How do they rank ?

[Chancer]

[quote user="EuroTrash"]Interestingly I find British school groups better behaved than French school groups, and French kids travelling with their parents and families better behaved than English kids with their parents and families. Does that mean British kids have more respect for their teachers than for their parents, and vice versa for French kids? I don't know.[/quote]

 

Possibly for the former if there are no boundaries in the home and there are at least some at schooL

 

For the latter, I think its more a case of the teachers in France not believing that they are working and/or responsable when on a school trip, some teachers that is.