Reply to European families appear so perfect with such well-behaved children

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Reply to "European families appear so perfect with such well-behaved children - how do they do it?"

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[quote=Anonymous]OP here.
I’m now in a tent in the Sahara desert and can’t sleep…. There’s great cell coverage, which seems bizarre, but I’m bored, so I’ll take it!

The commentary here is so thoughtful and interesting!

We actually live in Manhattan (I found DCUM during a stint at the NIH), and our kids have far more “European” upbringing than their cousins in the suburbs, in that we live in a small apartment and have to be quiet because of our neighbors, we go to museums/broadway/out to eat regularly, the kids take the subway a few stops to school and tool around our neighborhood by themselves, and after school sports are far less intense than for their cousins in the burbs.

And yet… we are still just a frazzled mess compared to the European families. I am dumpy, our kids are whiny and moody, at dinner our kids can’t remember to put their napkins in their laps without me hissing at them, and we are unable to sustain a thoughtful conversation at the table that lasts >20 minutes without someone whining that they are bored and want to go get a book.

There are very thoughtful comments here. Maybe there is a significant component of “peer pressure” from society in general in Europe that helps kids learn to behave? And im sure I was too permissive with the kids, and it’s probably not great that we have family dinner maybe twice a week….ugh.

Ok going to try to go to sleep now (as a side note, the Sahara, specifically the dunes at erg chegaga, is pretty amazing). All of the thoughtful commentary and cultural insight is very interesting and much appreciated.[/quote]

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