Expat Moms - are Argentine kids rude?

[Page8383]

It's not just the little kids that sometimes behave inappropriately towards their parents. Grown up children here tend to speak to their parent disrespectfully imo. I have heard heaps of examples of kids ordering their parents (the boludos) around or speaking to them in a petulant manner. If I spoke like that to my parents, my dad would take me down to Chinatown quick sticks.
I am in my 30s now and I have an adult / adult relationship with my folks. But I notice here that grown up kids still have a child / parent relationship with their own parents. Namely, parents here may tend to drive their kids around a bit, wash their clothes, give them food / money or do other tareas for them on a regular basis. Grown men and women don't really do this where I come from.
Back home, parents bring up their kids and give them the skills and tools to fend for themselves later on in life. Here the parents protect and look after their kids in the same ways well into adulthood.
All generalisations as well of course.

 

[Ferf]

On our next episode of BA Cast, the bilingual show, we're going to be discussing parenting and children vis-a-vis Argentina and other countries. These posts are really interesting with regard to that subject...is any of you guys interested in participating in the discussion via a phone chat? Please PM for making arrangements if that's the case. Thanks and Feliz 2014!

 

[argsteve]

Oh my goodness dont get me started on this topic..... In my 9 years here....I have seen stuff like other have posted ... kids throwing stuff... running all around a restaurant..under other peoples tables...etc etc I think there is this big problem here about everyone can do what they want.... kids run wild....
look at the people you see everyday ....if it says dont smoke... smoke... dont walk on the grass...then walk on it... throw anything in the street...graffiti a building....dont clean up after your dog... etc etc who cares if i throw my garbage in my neighbors patio..etc etc so kids dont have boundaries or manners since many people here are mostly all about themselves and dont think about others... they dont think hey maybe having my 2 kids running and yelling in the restaurant might be bothering other people trying to have a nice evening....

BUT...that being said I think it is a WORLDWIDE loss of manners and respect..... I used to tell me girlfriend that would NEVER happen in the states.... kids dont act like that hahaha Then we went back for a visit...to an Outback Steakhouse the first night back and it was a Zoo.... kids yelling... banging plates running crawling all over the seats etc... and I said wow... it is a worldwide problem... parents have just lost the battle.. given up.. and just are numbed by their children....

It isnt a Argentina problem it is a worldwide problem!!!!.... but YES you could say kids are out of control and can be rude here... but it is worldwide... I hate to sound like my dad... "back in my day"..... but yes when I went out as a child I knew I better be on good behavior.. and I was expected to act polite and be quiet and respectful.... that sort of thing is getting harder to find....in ADULTS and in children.... you see it all over the world....

 

[che]

parents here may tend to drive their kids around a bit, wash their clothes, give them food / money or do other tareas for them on a regular basis.

In Italy it is common for grown children in their 30s and 40s to still be living at home. Mom makes dinner, does the laundry etc. These "adults" are called Mominas. Here in Argentina the syndrome exists maybe b/c many here are from Italy... We have a baby sitter who is 20 years old. Her mom drives her all over the city. When she comes to work she still cannot figure out the public bus system. We leave her food for dinner. It is absurd. It drives me nuts.

 

[Jaredberryman]

In this culture you are not truly considered a full "adult" until you have gotten married/live with boyfriend or girlfriend. That's basically the way it is. I'm sure there are plenty of Argentines that would deny this, but, for the most part, I think it's true.

 

[LucreBorgia]

I know this is a generalization but do any other moms (or dads) think that kids in BA are incredibly rude and/or spoiled? I have found that I see kids telling their mothers "calláte" and screaming when they don´t get what they want. Of course this happens everywhere but I feel like I see it a lot more here.

Also, they seem more demanding even when they are guests in my home!

Am I the only one who feels this way?

hahhaha I'm not even gonna read anymore... you are 100% right!.... I go to a coffee and see kids slapping, insulting, kicking, crying their lungs out, and everything they shouldn't!
My kid, when we go out, she starts staring at this kids and looks at me, I let her know that she can't comment at the moment and we exchange funny looks... even my friends kids... I've seen them slap and pull my friends hair...

 

[EricLovesBA]

...
It isnt a Argentina problem it is a worldwide problem!!!!.... but YES you could say kids are out of control and can be rude here... but it is worldwide... I hate to sound like my dad... "back in my day"..... but yes when I went out as a child I knew I better be on good behavior.. and I was expected to act polite and be quiet and respectful.... that sort of thing is getting harder to find....in ADULTS and in children.... you see it all over the world....

This is an interesting comment. We could ask ourselves what might be different now, and I can think of a couple things:
1. The food chain - increasingly GMO, increasing consumption of highly processed corn, soy etc, or animals raised on the same, chalk full of chemicals, antibiotics, etc.
2. Generations of tv children raising generations of computer-head, gamer, smart-phone addicted zombies. Any chance that this over-focus on the addictive virtual world might impact social skills and attention span?

But back to Argentina, I agree, the parents do not tend to put limits, especially the single moms. On the other hand the society is accordingly very tolerant of kids gone wild. The subject of limits is a very intriguing one.

There is much talk these days in the alternative media about the non-aggression principle, and how spanking teaches kids to accept violence from authority as something normal, and therefor contributes to the apathy about the emerging police state we see in the US. What exactly are we teaching in the long term when we condition them to be "seen but not heard"? Maybe the kids can be annoying, but conversely, when is the last time the gente stormed the Whitehouse in the US and threw a president out on their ass? How cool would that be? Things we're not used to may take root and flower into something we don't exactly recognize.

 

[ARbound]

Are Argentine kids rude? The answer is in the question (in my honest opinion).

Impending shitstorm expected...

 

[Lamb]

My friend told me a story--could be an urban leged--about living in Amsterdam. She says--I have no personal experience with this--that the Dutch are rather notorious in their lack of interest in setting limits on their kids. So a guy is standing in line at the supermarket, and the kid sitting in the seat of the cart in front of him begins to kick him. He tells the kid nicely not to kick him, kid ignores him, he asks the mother to make the kid stop. She says, "Oh, my husband and I don't believe in setting limits on our children." The guy in front of her, who's just paid for his purchases, opens a carton of milk and calmly dumps it over her head, saying, "Neither did mine."

Being Dutch, and in Amsterdam for that matter, i can clear this one up. It is an urban legend, and came from a newspaper years ago. I used to teach Dutch and this story was featured in the textbook of the students. It was a joke about the modern 'free' way of raising children etc.

 

[james37a]

<p>So far after 14 years here , i do not see kids shooting up schools as it seems a cultural thing in the states with crazy parents pushing pushing, perhaps i live in a bubble,, who knows!!!!! i meet well%