I noticed that the French students answers to what defines a well-behaved child dealt more with external behavior - that the child should always present himself/herself well in public, be polite, say hello and thank you, etc. How do you think a well-behaved child should act at home and with their family and friends?

Well-behaved children

In America, it is a common sight to see a parent hit their naughty child when he/she is misbehaving. I can't tell you how many times I've seen mothers slap their child on the rear end when they are acting up in the grocery store. Does this happen in France too? A lot of your reponses included being polite, which seems to be very important in your culture. Do you think that Americans have a different view of politeness than you?

de la politesse

Il est vrai que les Francais accordent une grande importance a la politesse. Nous pensons que cela facilite la communication et les relations interpersonnelles. Il est souvent difficile d'obtenir quelque chose de la part de quelqu'un si on commence par l'insulter ou a etre desagreable avec lui. Par contre, meme si ce n'est pas vrai pour tout le monde, la majorite des Francais part du principe qu'une personne qui agit mal doit etre punit en consequence. Ceci s'applique bien entendu aux enfants egalement et il n'est pas rare de gifler un gamin qui fait un caprice. A l'inverse, une personne qui se comporte bien doit etre recompensee. Tout cela releve de la politique du baton et de la carotte : le baton pour punir et la carotte pour recompenser.

Dennis the menace

I noticed the americans have linked the good behavior to the attitude towards the parents mainly and the french are more inclined to associate it with a more general social envirinment. Keep up the good habit of 'bonjour', here is very rare... If you ever go to Greece, just say 'kalimera'...Trust me gyus this is not a bad word. Pas de questions..are you using any other words instead of 'bonjour' when you are among friends? it would be interesting to know...

Surprise

I was sort of surprised when you said that is not uncommon in France either to see a parent strike their child in public. I was under the impression that it didn't as often in other cultures. I guess that kind of stuff varies from family to family, no matter where. In America, parents often offer their children rewards for getting good grades, etc. Do parents in France do that too?

Salut Konstantinos!

Et oui c'est comme ça qu'on dit bonjour entre amis ou entre potes! Certains disent hello parfois. Pour dire Au revoir on dit aussi "tchao" ou ciao, à plus (ou à+ dans les mails (comprendre e-mails)) ou encore salut. A+ donc

Spanking a Child

I noticed that you said it is not uncommon to see a parent slap a child in public when they are misbehaving. In my opinion, in the United States more people are starting to be concerned with child abuse. Therefore, I think parents would be given a disapproving look by a stranger if he or she saw them slap their child in public. The more common forms of discipline now include such things as "time out" where a child is set away from others for a specified amount of time in order to be able to think about what they did wrong and to decide that they are ready to behave and apologize. This is usually a corner of an empty room or somewhere where they have nothing to do but think about their bad behavior. Is this trend away from physical discipline also happening in France?

cry baby

noticed that a few Americans wrote regarding the fact that well-behaved children don't cry, most likely because it is both a bit embarassing for the mother/father and also simply because it is annoying. For the French, is crying ususally a socially frowned upon thing or is it just more of a nuissance that doesn't really matter?