claireh1981

We discovered this morning that someone has taken our 2 year old daughter's cabrio car thingy from the garden. Firstly it's a pretty crappy thing to do, to steal something that obviously belongs to a child.

Well, we all went out hunting for this afternoon in case kids had taken it and dumped it somwhere. We ended up at our local play park and there were some young girls playing on the swings. They can't have been any older that 11 or 12.

I asked them very nicely if they had seen a child's car on their travels, and one of them replied 'yes, it was up your mother's ****'!!!

I was gobsmacked!! I am a new secondry school teacher, so I am not sure why it shocks me so much, but it just confirms that I need to get out of here ASAP.

I am sure there are many Kiwi children who are as equally charming, but yet I live in hope.

Am Loolah

Blimey Claire, where in the UK are you? It is sad when we all experience this kind of thing, and yes I'm sure it will and dores happen all over, but it's deeply unsettling> Poor you.

claireh1981

We are in Wokingham, Berkshire

Not exactly a horrible area!

I am not generally an 'England basher', as all countries have their problems, but today I was shocked.

I actually felt sorry for the girl. Although she was incredibly rude, it seemed a shame that such a young girl should even be talking about things like that.

I am sure her parents are lovely people with equally lovely manners.

Jack The Lad

Thats bad

Me and the wife dropped our eldest off at school the other day and on the drive back we spotted 3 people. A boy of 10 (no older) and 2 adults. Nothing shocking in that, except they were all smoking, including the 10 year old

What hope does he have with (assuming) parents/relatives like that?

Lenmil

I remember going to Toronto in the 70s as a kid and all my cousins would leave thier bikes and toys in the front garden to go and get their lunch etc. I was gobsmacked even as a kid back then..

Batty

Unfortunately that's something that will pop into your mind in 20 years time - I saw something similar about that long ago that made me feel so sad for the young girl involved and I've never been able to forget it. I don't know if you'd hear something like that here but tbh I'd be surprised - kids are generally polite and, like lots of people have experienced, even if they look scary they're not

Maz

Claire, that's awful. A few years ago I was experiencing huge pangs of homesickness. Now I see I just had the rose-tinted glasses on. I thought back to what my childhood was really like, and I can see the locals definitely degenerating into that kind of behaviour.

When my parents visitied us in the US, they were amazed that so many people didn't have a fence around their back garden (now most do, but our house is now 10 years old), and just so surprised that people's garden furniture didn't get nicked.

Then when I talked to my Dad about our reasons for wanting to see what NZ is like, he said he wasn't surprised to see the UK near the bottom of a league table for places to bring up children in the developed world. He said he didn't blame us at all and would fear for Lauren's future if we did indeed return to the UK.

Thankfully they have no problem with long-distance travel...

SarahB

Thats not good.

I just walked to the local shops in our village..... everybody I passed said Hello to me (Im pushing a pram btw).... on the way home we did a detour to the park.. there were 2 girls there and they came up and introduced themselves... they said they were 9 and 10 years old.... they were so sweet and I let one of them sit on the bench and cuddle my baby. They also helped my tiny 3 year old into a toddler swing and then pushed him as I was stuck feeding the bubba... they kept playing with him and making him laugh.. that was a big help to me. I also walked there with a lady and 2 kids who I'd never met before and walked home with them too afterwards. I can go out for a 10 minute walk in this village and be out over an hour as everyone stops to talk!! lol

Gill and Rob

And that is very much what NZ is like today. It still amazes me what people leave in their back garden and on their paths. How many places in the UK can you leave your shoes on your door step over night?
Gill

orca05

Hi
When I started working in NZ, I am a hairdresser I noticed that the kids were so much more politeter, and I have never come across any really or horrible kids here or any that have left any kind of not very nice impression.
Kids here are more into sport and to be honest are less materlistic.You get a few who are into crime but it is not the norm.
We have left loads of toys out and nothing has ever been taken.There is crime in NZ but on the whole it is a much safer place for kids and it is a good place to bring kids up honestly!

SarahB

We have left toys out in the front garden here. I just thought about whether those same toys would still be in the garden where we lived back in UK... and the answer is most definately no. They wouldve disappeared within hours and thats a fact. Yes, we live in a village here but even when we got here and stayed in the middle of Auckland I remember talking to my parents on the phone and telling them that "hey people leave things out in their gardens here".

...and I'm still costantly amazed by the kids and teenagers here, about how nice they are. I wonder if I'll ever got used to it. If I pass a group of teenagers I still look away or down and make sure I dont attract attention to myself.... then they amaze me by saying hello.... my first thought is.... what do they want?.... they want to say hello!

RobClubley

On a similar note - our house painters have left ladders all round the house, planks on the lawn overnight and over the weekend.
We were saying last night if they'd done that in South Leeds where we lived in the UK they wouldn't have lasted an hour!

74NZ

When my children started school in NZ, they were amazed at how the Kiwi kids came over and introduced themselves and made them feel immediately welcome. This happened in Wellington and Hawkes Bay so it wasn't due to where we were living. I go for a run in the mornings and often get cheerful greetings from teenagers, how cool is that.

I have five children covering a wide age group and this is nearly always the case. Friendly, socialable kids who are polite and seem to genuinely enjoy being with adults.


Although it makes me sad to read that a small group of UK kids are behaving this way.

donnaf

Just before we left Liverpool my 8 year old was playing in the garden with his new LFC football. He kicked it over the fence and into the street and by the time he'd gone out it had been nicked! He was devastated - we kept looking for it because we couldn't believe it could have gone so quickly
We have found the kids here to be lovely, very respectful to adults and polite and helpful. We had some furniture delivered the other day and half the kids in the street came to help us move it and when I came back from the supermarket the same happened - the kids helped me carry he shopping in. The terrible thing is when it first happened I was so suspicious, but it's not hat we were used to in the UK. Some of you may hve read my post about the teenager who shamed me into picking my 3 year old up because he was whinging - the teenager (boy) was so anxious because Joe was crying, it was really sweet.

RobClubley

Compare this to the teenage lad in South leeds, who offered to carry our nextdoor neighbour's shopping home from the local shop then got himself invited in and nicked her purse.
The little git took advantage of the fact she was in her 80s and had an eye condition that meant she couldn't focus on the centre of her vision. She recognised people by voice and what they said as much as anything.
He talked to her in such a way that she gave him enough information to pretend he was me and he was locked out.
He only got away with about 20 quid but the poor woman was so upset.