Discipline in Taiwan is starting to suck

Just curious, a lot of the posts are focusing on the Taiwanese children. How “well-behaved” do you think children are in your respective countries?

children are very much treasured in Taiwan as no doubt they are in most western countries too. But in Taiwan they seem to allow them much greater freedoms and allow them to run amok a lot. And in truth most Taiwanese couldnt care less and dont seem to be bothered for the most part. Sometimes a Taiwanese adult will tell the kid off (nicely) and it works usually. Something about being told off by a stranger seems to have more force then by the parents. But you have to do it nicely otherwise you will have the parents coming down on YOU. MOst of the time the parents ARE keeping an eye out for the kids and surely will know if someone is telling them off. Bad NEWS if you arent nice about it !! But if you are nice, they will usually come to your aid.

I just say "shiao pen yeoh, shiao pen yiao !! An chieng yee tien tien !! "little friend, little friend, a little quieter please !!

And then be sure to point out that otherwise you will go and get their parents. (this prevents the little buggers from complaining to their parents about YOU )

I’m gonna have to agree with Jack Burton here. This might be a Taiwan thing but overseas chinese don’t tend to act this way. I remember when I was little with my best friend arguing over whose mom was scarier.

well i rarely misbehaved in taiwan growing up. My mother being the female version of Attila the HUN. i Would get spanked in public if i misbehaved in any way. And if i fought with my sister, her solution was to whip the both of us no matter whose “fault” it was. that pretty much ended either me or my sister complaining to our mother !! haha

I have a friend who has three kids, 2 boys and a girl; the boys can be terrors, but when Mom or Dad says stop, they stop. They are well behaved when in the company of adults and play well with other kids.

Another friend spoils the hell out of his two kids, and they whine and moan about everything from breakfast to getting the new video game; they’re little Napoleans in groupsd of kids and get sulky when no one wants to play with them.

It’s snot the kids fault. They will push the envelope as far as they are able to. That’s what they do.

BTW, as for the spanking of children. That’s the parents’ job, not the teacher.

I went to dinner with my wife’s whole extended family last night, all brother and sisters and all the kids. I was voted the most feared by all the kids. Why? Because I make them quite the hell down.

My dad always said that children are to be seen, not heard. He would haul us off to the bathroom and spank us if we didn’t act like little angels. I’m pretty sure that he would have a coronary if he were to see the children here.

Maybe your dad knows my dad. Mine had the same quip. “Go play outside!” was another favourite. Unfortunately that’s not usually an option for parents in Taiwan.
I don’t mind them being boisterous so much, but the ear splitting screams is what gets me.

But, as jdsmith said. It’s not the kids’ fault, a child will do whatever he can get away with. Pushing the boundaries and discovering what is and isn’t allowed is normal. It’s up to parents to make and enforce those boundaries.

What got me today was that the doctor I go to was handing out new year style noisemakers to his younger patients. Of course they got bored waiting for prescriptions to be filled in the waiting room and you can just imagine what ensued. Yecch!

This isn’t about ancient chinese cultural practises. This is about a generation of parent who haven’t a clue how to raise their children in a modern society because they are the first modern generation of parents. As Jack says, and my wife and all her friends (in their late 30s) confrim, kids did not act this way for the most part 30 years ago. Some country kids did, but the average child did not. It was not tolerated.

Parents now do not know what to do. They think they were raised too strictly and do not want to raised their kids like they were. Many also - yes this is true - think they are being western by letting their kids do what they want. Many want their kids to to freer which means we all have to suffer because they don’t know how to balance freedom with respect for others. Why would they know this? They have no models to look to. The practises of the previous generations are no guide and there aren’t enough western models to pick up how to really do it. Also, let’s face it: what to western movies always show? Spoiled brats who sass off adults and run wild. Parents see this and it reinforces the notion that this is how kids are.

Well, there is the same kind of problem in the States (maybe not quite as bad as the average tolerance for noise by individuals tends to be a bit lower here, I think, compared to Taiwan). You have middle-school age kids with lawyers on speed-dial – “You can’t discipline me, I’ll get child welfare on your ass.” And they can.

Nope they use their phones to do this

Teacher’s rage

[quote=“Muzha Man”]This isn’t about ancient chinese cultural practises. This is about a generation of parent who haven’t a clue how to raise their children in a modern society because they are the first modern generation of parents. As Jack says, and my wife and all her friends (in their late 30s) confrim, kids did not act this way for the most part 30 years ago. Some country kids did, but the average child did not. It was not tolerated.

Parents now do not know what to do. They think they were raised too strictly and do not want to raised their kids like they were. Many also - yes this is true - think they are being western by letting their kids do what they want. Many want their kids to to freer which means we all have to suffer because they don’t know how to balance freedom with respect for others. Why would they know this? They have no models to look to. The practises of the previous generations are no guide and there aren’t enough western models to pick up how to really do it. Also, let’s face it: what to western movies always show? Spoiled brats who sass off adults and run wild. Parents see this and it reinforces the notion that this is how kids are.[/quote]

Instinct … intuition?

[quote=“belgian pie”][quote=“Muzha Man”]This isn’t about ancient chinese cultural practises. This is about a generation of parent who haven’t a clue how to raise their children in a modern society because they are the first modern generation of parents. As Jack says, and my wife and all her friends (in their late 30s) confrim, kids did not act this way for the most part 30 years ago. Some country kids did, but the average child did not. It was not tolerated.

Parents now do not know what to do. They think they were raised too strictly and do not want to raised their kids like they were. Many also - yes this is true - think they are being western by letting their kids do what they want. Many want their kids to to freer which means we all have to suffer because they don’t know how to balance freedom with respect for others. Why would they know this? They have no models to look to. The practises of the previous generations are no guide and there aren’t enough western models to pick up how to really do it. Also, let’s face it: what to western movies always show? Spoiled brats who sass off adults and run wild. Parents see this and it reinforces the notion that this is how kids are.[/quote]

Instinct … intuition?[/quote]

For the masses? :laughing:

Just look at the way some Europeans act when they travel with their kids to America. They actually leave toddlers outside a cafe in a stroller as this is common in some parts of northern Europe. You think they’d have sense or intuition to know that’s a dangerous thing to do in New York. But people take time to adjust to new environments and the environment in Taiwan is new to everyone.

That said I give you carte blanche to yell at every brat we see next time we travel. Just don’t grab them. One day you’re going to lose a hand over that. :wink:

[quote=“Muzha Man”]

Just look at the way some Europeans act when they travel with their kids to America. They actually leave toddlers outside a cafe in a stroller as this is common in some parts of northern Europe. You think they’d have sense or intuition to know that’s a dangerous thing to do in New York. [/quote]

Or Belgium.

Yeesh! Now there’s a point.

HG

You might have seen some bad instances of Taiwanese kids behaving badly, running amok, though IME, I’ve seen many counterexamples.

That said, I still feel safe around Taiwanese kids. I don’t have to worry that they might be packing, might go aggro, might try to pick a fight with me, etc. Unlike other places e.g. certain cities I’ve lived in the US, I’d take a screaming kid anyday (although I’d still be tempted to say something to the parent or glare at the kid).

“Do YOU KNOW who I am?”

"No! :raspberry: "

WACK!!

:smiling_imp:

I’ve been bad. [i]Real bad.[/i] I need some Taiwanese discipline.

[quote=“Doctor Evil”]I’ve been bad. [i]Real bad.[/i] I need some Taiwanese discipline.

[/quote]

S.C.A.R.Y !!! This is one Animal I WOULDNT even try to tame :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

Odd that there’s deemed to be a particular problem with Taiwanese kids – we see kids (really little kids) getting slapped hard on MRTs enough for relatively minor things that we were actually quite impressed by the Koreans who seemed to simply tell their kids what to do/what not to do.

Sure we’ve seen local tykes go nuts in expensive restaurants and on planes with nary a word from the parents – so far it’s worked to tell the kids what you want them to stop doing. They seem to react positively being directly addressed by a foreigner in Chinese telling them to cut it out – whether it’s embarrassment, fear or something else I couldn’t give a crap so long as I can eat and fly in an relaxing atmosphere.