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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are in Morocco on vacation with our tween kids, and are staying in nice (but not fancy) family-friendly riads and hotels. Essentially everyone else is European - mostly French, Spanish, and German, with occasional Belgians or Scandinavians (which I know because they exchange brief pleasantries with one another around the pool in excellent English).

They are all attractive (moms with 4 kids and older teens are wearing bikinis - and look great!), have between 2-4 extremely well-behaved children, and the kids are relatively quiet but smiling and happy. The kids entertain themselves (in the pool, reading, playing cards), don’t pester their parents (who are reading actual books, not playing with their phones), and there is little to no crying or whining, except some age-appropriate crying from a baby - who was immediately picked up lovingly and tended to by her teenaged sister. The kids eat dinner with excellent manners, clean their plate, and the whole family sits and talks animatedly for the ~1.5 hours it takes to be served dinner (which doesn’t start until 8 or 8:30 PM).

And then the perfect European families are all up bright and early looking fabulous (parents and kids), having just finished breakfast when we straggle in bleary eyed at 9 AM.

I am so fascinated and intimidated. Every single Euro-family appears so calm, happy, well-behaved, and well-mannered, and looks great, (without appearing to need sleep). No one ever seems frazzled or even appears to get annoyed. How is this possible?[/quote]

As someone who is an immigrant from a Mediterranean country and have been living in the US for 20+ years. A few things I feel are different when it comes to raising kids:

[b]- Kids in the US are so overscheduled that they cannot easily entertain themselves and resort to bugging adults when they have a little downtime.
[/b]
- There is usually no special kids menu for kids in most European countries. My mom would joke that when I was 3, I was eating octopus and chicken liver pate, whereas most kids here are limited to chicken nuggets and pizza at that age. As a result, European kids are much more easy going about food. They also sit with adults on the same dining table when possible and learn proper dining etiquette at a young age.

- Finally, many European families aren't too geographically separated as they are in the US. My uncles, aunts and grandparents all lived within walking distance of us when we were growing up. That regular exposure to trusted adults taught us how to interact properly with adults from a young age.

Just my 2 cents
[/quote]

I have lived in many places with children but am from the US.

This is the #1 difference I see between the kids in other locations versus where we are.

I don't know if it's the reason for the difference between behavior but I can't imagine the lack of downtime for kids helps in the US. It seems like a very stressful life for everyone and I think it results in kids who aren't as self-sufficient or creative when every moment of the day is scheduled[/quote]
Asian kids are also over scheduled, but they also are shamed a lot.

IMO, there is no one culture that does parenting perfectly.   You never know what goes on behind closed doors.

-Asian American parent[/quote]

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