Flakey

I wanted to gage people's thoughts on the behaviour of kids in Australia. Let me be a little more specific. One of the many reasons why we have decided to give Aus a go is the chance for our daughter to experience more outdoor living as I did growing up in South Africa thus having more quality time outdoors with friends and less time in doors. However when we were out in Sydney I was pleasantly surprised to see kids in general very well behaved whether on public transport getting up for adults and generally having good manners. I don't need to tell you how things in the UK have got worse with kids not giving a monkey for anything authoritative and having no respect for elders.

I often get tales of woe from my elderly parent of atrocious language on the buses, not offering their seat to adults etc. My Mum asked one kid who was no older than 10 to tone down his language as she had my 9 year old daughter in tow and he told her to mind her own f*&*ing business......nice.

I know it depends on areas and parents have responsibility too, but do kids out there have some respect for police, teachers etc?

quoll

About the same as UK in my observation. In fact I have seen more kids stand for elderly people in buses and trains in UK than I have here where there is a sense of entitlement because they have paid their fares. You probably get better responses where the kids wear school uniforms then they can be dobbed on if they do the wrong thing but in mufti they couldnt give a rats. The atrocious language is fairly endemic I suspect and the f words gets a good workout from anyone over the age of 10. Little respect for teachers and no respect for police I suspect.

carolinephillips

I have always found the kids to be well mannered, except for an increased use of swearwords that seems to be endemic in Australia. However they do usually tone it down if you have a young child with you and you ask them very nicely. In the UK I'd be afraid to even ask for fear of getting attacked- and that was in a supposedly nice area of the UK.

Buzzy--Bee

I find kids here in Melbourne especially teenagers to be exteremely polite and well mannered. I've been offered a seat on trains many times (I'm only 41!), the kids say excuse me etc. One day I was walking down my high street and there were a group of teenagers, one of them swore quite loudly then when he saw me with my young kids he apologised.

BB

Deancm_MKII

Sounds like the kids in Australia.

LouiseR

I find the parents more badly behaved than the kids to be honest. In the supermarket I can't count the amount of times I've heard parents swear at and smack their kids, some of the kids are quite little too, it's disgusting.

spartacus

I'd echo the same for Brisbane (western subs) . . . kids on the whole extremely well behaved to the point where it comes as a surprise if they're not . . . I'm afraid totally opposite to where I used to live in the UK.

northernbird

In my day to day life in Perth I have the same experience as Buzzy and Spartacus. Very polite and well mannered. Go to some other parts of Perth and you may not get the same.

spartacus

Location Location Location . . . as Phil and Kirsty would say.

Sunbound

I agree ..and generally i think kids here are more polite ..and i'm VERY old school in how manners and morals should be!!

eddie007

IMHO kids here are well behaved and better mannered ... but then I suppose I go on my kids friends .. and kids I meet in my line of work... They dont appear to lack confidence ... but in a nice way...

Our experience is that kids are more child like, less knowing, than their uk counterparts... their demands are simpler... I have NOT ONCE been asked for anything designer or branded ... becasue their friends have blah blah blah.. maybe that's just my kids, or the kids they hang out with...

The thing that really strikes me is how an open space, a ball and a cardboard box so easily and quickly turns into a cricket match for anyone who wants to join in... there's none of this... its mine you can't... the more the merrier... same with aussie rules...

How many premiership players in the uk take their kids to their local park to have a kickaround with them and encourage any kids hanging about to join in???? I've had that happen with my kids and major local AFL players on more than one occassion... there's a wonderful sharing here...

As for seats on trains... There are signs up on perth transport TELLING kids to give up their seats to those who need them... but I've NEVER seen a child/teen having to be asked... they are aware and they just do it... like we used to when we were kids

I love it

itigo

I have found there's the same amount of swearing etc. but the difference is, if they see my little one, they apologise. Also arsing around, if they encroach on what you're doing they apologise. I would cringe walking past big groups of yoovs in the UK waiting for the barrage of insults that would come forth. Here nothing happens. They congregate and cause a nuisance but amongst themselves more it seems.

Best example of coming face to face with a pack of teenagers in Australia - group of lads - 15-18, hoodies, smoking walking past the playpark. Loud conversation. Thought Uh oh here we go. When I actually listened, one of them was telling the others how shocked he was at the swearing and rudeness he'd had off a mate's little 7 year old brother the day before!!! My flabber was ghast and I actually felt bad for thinking they were up to no good.........

leftfield

?? I am currently on crutches due to a broken ankle so I can't drive and have got the train about 10 times in the last month.
I have had to stand everytime, only one person has offered me a seat. There has generally been a mix of children and adults in the priority seating and when you look at them they just look away... Must be a different Perth?

paddyo

Why not point out to them its a Priority Seat and ask them to give it up?

paddyo

Culture, culture, culture too I would say. Some cultures treat children and, more importantly, behave around children, differently to others. Some cultures its definately "Do what I say not what I do" and often use violence (in their minds its discipline) to control their childrens behaviour. Some cultures prefer to lead and speak by example and as such expect their children to follow their example.

Australia is a melting pot of different cultures and some are brash, some are reserved, some are confrontational, some are defensive. Its difficult to sometimes comprehend one which goes against your own philosophy but its that very divergence which can teach tolerance I think.

Children are what they see in my book, so I try and moderate my sons access to certain TV, access to 'adult' language and try (sometimes fail if I am honest) to create a good example of correct public behaviour for him. Bottom line is that he is an extremely polite young boy, bloody inquisitive mind you!!!