children should be seen and not heard
by the mother
Stellendam, The Netherlands
How many of us grew up hearing that?
Not really holding to the philosophy myself (I’m more in to *children are people too and have a contribution to make, but sometimes need help learning when and how to contribute to conversations*), I’d forgotten about this particular phrase.
But we’ve heard it countless times in the past month or so. Perhaps it’s because the motorhoming set is older than us and, as some of them have expressed, are “over here” to get away from the grandkids for a couple of weeks. So if they don’t want kids around, you can understand why they are full of praise for children who are so quiet you don’t even know they are here.
Not that our kids are always quiet. In fact, it was where they were at their rowdiest, that the proprietor raved and raved about how quiet they were. The loveliest children she’d even had in the campground apparently!
And where we are now there have been two older couples from Britain for a few days. They are among the friendliest people we have come across, so totally over-the-top helpful and have showered us with gifts ~ Stellplatz books, too-sweet-for-them cereal and eight handmade paper aeroplanes that flew like none we have ever made ~ and lent us luxuries like the latest Bond movie and French camping books! They played cricket with the children (not the quietest of games when our kids are playing) and tried to cheer up an inconsolable not-at-all quiet ER3 yesterday afternoon. And even they said the children were quiet.
Our kids didn’t come with mufflers, but we have tried over the years to teach them to be considerate of others. We often see the inconsiderate-ness-es….the pushing past someone to be first, the choosing the favourite seat in the van for *me*, the rude voices, the accusations, the objectioning screams, the inability to notice jobs need doing, the expectation that food will appear when their stomachs rumble…..it’s good for us to remember that in some areas, wee steps of progress are being made. Even if we don’t actually believe in “children should be seen and not heard” <wink>
As for those children…..what a day they had today.
When you go to the North Sea, do you build sand castles? Why, of course, not! You build canals and dykes and an intricate lock system that *really worked* (and one structure that might have looked like a sandcastle, but actually it was a windmill).
It wasn’t like our beloved beaches at home. But it wasn’t like Vung Tau either.
Comparing to home, there were no bush-clad hills rising up behind…..just a dyke.
There were no curves in the road approach…..it was dead straight for miles.
There was no carpark at the end of the road…..the whole way along was one big carpark with a continuous string of motorhomes, caravans and and occasional car pulled up facing the sea.
There were not many people sitting on the sand….most of them stayed sedately on their deckchairs firmly planted next to their vehicles. Maybe they don’t like the feel of the sand between their toes (I can relate to that!) or the wind blowing through their hair (yeah, it froze me, but hey).
Speaking of sand, it was neither black nor flat. It rippled, and I really mean rippled. Jgirl14 compared it to “extra chunky ripples chips versus thin cut” – this sand was ripples all the way, so deep that it hurt your feet when you ran across it.
So there we were with almost the entire beach just for ourselves. There were a lot of people on (or next to) the beach, but no-one came near us….definitely not like crowded Vung Tau. And there were no oil slicks or rats or jellyfish either.
It was just a simple special beach.
Tags: children, parenting, postcard: Holland, postcard: Vietnam, recreation
rayres
THere is nothing quite like hearing from others that your children are admirable. As their parents, we admire them ourselves, and work very hard to instill in them qualities that other people admire. It is often times a thankless job (from the kids and others) so on those occasions when your parenting is complimented, via the children, Thank them, and save that memory to reassure you when the next hoyden smackdown occurs!
I’m convinced mine need to come to yours for a being-respectfully-quiet-and-gratefully-eating-what-is-served boot camp;-) We have discovered a four year old BOY (who stubbornly lives on fresh air) living in our family and this new breed has come as a bit of a shock to mama (not that the two sisters are all that demure) 😉
Love, love, love hearing about what you’re up to – warts’n’all (or should that be pus’n’all).
Hey Sharon, there are warts too! But you really don’t wanna hear about them!
Hi there – Just to let you know that we’ve sorted a field for you to stay near Alton for two nights if you like – 23/24 and 24/25 June.
Looking forward to meeting you all,
Mike and Fernande.