indiebird

Sigh.... is there any way of getting out of this nightmare??!!

H went on a gita yesterday to Lago Maggiore. We felt so generous giving him €10 spending money and we sent him on his way in the morning. My friend phoned me in the middle of my Yoga session to say her daughter had phoned her and they had got there safely but told me that H didn't have his cellulare to phone me so she thought she would. He doesn't have a cellulare. He's 11 years old for christsake and can barely cross a road on his own!! He came home bemoaning the fact he doesn't have a mobile. Apparently even the teachers were saying what weirdos we are not letting him have a damn phone (allegedly.... ) and he also had the least amount of money. He was telling me the story of one boy in the other class who had €100 in his wallet. He left the wallet on the picnic set whilst he went off to the loo and when he came back half his money was missing!! Go figure...........

Patty

Indie - you jolly well stick to your guns. In my opinion alot of italians simply dont know basic parenting skills. My son just got his first mobile a few months ago at 12 and a half ! And I thought that was far too early, but as you say - he was the ONLY one in the class not to have one. He has the cheapest nokia on the market !! I cannot understand the mindset of some of these parents - its really beyond my comprehension. Then again we are in .....Italy

indiebird

I wonder if it's just cultural but there are so many things I baulk at here. I saw one of the Mums of a boy in H's class when I went to collect him last night. They are having real problems with their son. My other friend piped up: 'why did you let him go on the trip if he's not behaving?' 'We paid for the trip. Why shouldn't he go??' She then carried on and on about the kids in the class who are leading him astray and what stress it is. I decided to have a go (because I am stupid) 'Have you thought that maybe he is trying to profit from the fact that you and his dad are no longer together and noone has overall authority?' 'In what sense?' she said. 'Well I know my kids like to say that everything is our fault so I was wondering if that could be what it might be.' 'Oh no! Nothing to do with that. It's all these little cretini in the class......' I decided to give up after that. The parents can't even take responsibility what hope has the kid got.........

Lorna at Vicenza

I agree with what Patty said - stick to your guns and tell the rest of the cretins to STFU - though Patty is much nicer than me.

Chloe went on her school trip today - okay - not middle school but last year of primary. Mobile phones were banned for all kids. They always have been. Teacher's note said not more than 10 euro to spend and this year and this year only because they were going to be on the coach for a lot of hours -
mp3 players or handheld video games would be allowed as an exception.

Chloe took a small and cheap mp3 player but not her Nintendo. In the end she came home saying they spent loads of time on the coach singing all together in Italian and English and that some of the teachers and kids had jokes to tell. She spent 2 euro on a stone from the cave and brougtthe rest home. There wasn't much to buy in the museum shops that she liked and the teachers didn't take them to an ice cream parlour or anything. They had their packed lunches close to the town sqaure.

Why would any kid need 100 euro? Where the hell do the parents think they are going to spend this money? It's a SCHOOL trip for God' sake - not a fashion shopping trip.

If Chloe ever spent 100 euro on a rock from a cave or museum, I'd kill her with it.

giodafa

Wait till next year Lorna Things change dramatically. ARGHH TEENAGERS

Lorna at Vicenza

I know - but I'm still hoping I've taught Chloe the value of money and the value of a bargain and I'd still smash her head with a rock if she'd spent 100 euro on it just to be 'cool'.

indiebird

Oh yes they seem to change so much. Perfectly sensible parents seem to have a lobotomy and we won't go into the hormones of the kids....... must admit one of my UK mates was bemoaning the fact that her 11y.o is being forced to act more grown up than he is just to fit in too.... many of us mums don't seem to cope so well with the transition either....

I dread to think what H would have spent his on if I'd given him more..... I thought €4.90 on a huge tube of mentos was mad enough.... especially as he came back with half the tube so he can't have exactly been generous with them -but I guess all the other kids had their own mentos..... ....we won't even talk about the ornaments......

37100

€100 and a Mobile? Gets even better in high school. Bancomats and credit cards.

duffer

The other half took my ipad which in turn has been taken over by Brando. Only he uses it now. For Talking Tom and Angry Birds! At least he's not got to the stage where he's asking for a mobile yet. Although yesterday in the park he was holding a pebble to his ear like a phone and having a conversation: 'yeah, yeah, OK, OK, OK mummy, bye cya later!' - he had a bunch of 5 year old girls giggling like mad. Then he started chasing them.

He's not even 3 FFS!

indiebird

They start the phone thing early. Both my kids had phone fixations from about a year old onwards. H would have the most elaborate conversations with Nanny on his toy phone.....

dina1965

Mine's just informed me that his friends all have prepaid debit cards so that they can go shopping on their own. THEIR mums don't care what clothes they buy as long as they wear them. THEIR mums don't insist on trying everything on and looking at lables before buying. WHY do I have to be different. Why was he born into THIS family ...

I really really hate shopping ... but I'm not giving a 14yr boy who can't tell the difference between cotton and nylon a prepaid card. Especially here where there is a strict "no-returns" policy ...

Lorna at Vicenza

Wow who are all these mums?
I don't know any teens around here with their own pre-paid card.
Some of them are allowed to buy their own cheap t-shirt or leggings from the market but the mums still take the kids shopping for the more expensive clothes.

Not sure I'm keen on the skinny, skinny jeans some of the lads are wearing at school. Their feet look so big and I wonder how they get those hulking great feet through such a skinny foot hole at the end of the skinny jeans.
At least they don't all walk about with their jeans halfway down their arses.

giodafa

So happy My daughter has been "promossa" (first year liceo linguistico) How do you explain to someone in the uk that your soo happy for this? 15 out of 24 were either bocciati or rimandati

ononno

good for her. I'm waiting to hear results of 2nd. year of same sort of school from no.2 grandaughter. Sure I seem more aprehensive than her and her parents.
ciao for now,
'o nonno

ambra_wandsworth

You have definitely turned into italians...