Hey everybody!

**Alison** · 12-01-2008, 05:10 AM

Hiya OuJan! Good to have you onboard, hon.

**Saksenland** · 12-01-2008, 12:06 PM

Welcome, great to see Afrikaans-speakers

**Absinthe** · 12-01-2008, 12:24 PM

Welkom!

Originally Posted by OuJan

I'm married and have twin boys - teenagers.

Oh my...sounds like parental nightmare

**Alison** · 12-01-2008, 01:11 PM

Absinthe, his boys are so lovely. Well mannered and very good looking!

**Absinthe** · 12-01-2008, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by Alison

Absinthe, his boys are so lovely. Well mannered and very good looking!

I take your word for it!

I have teenage siblings (one boy, one girl) and everytime I visit, I see my father struggling to handle them, especially the boy...today's teenagers are wild!
And I mean it, they're much more susceptible to a great number of things than when I was a teenager...it must be a handful to raise kids at the present age. So many bad influences everywhere

**Alison** · 12-01-2008, 01:31 PM

I don't have too much of a problem. mine are 13 and 11. I'm very strict, especially when it comes to manners and back-chatting. My husband is more laid back with the boys wrt that sort of thing.

My oldest son is going to an all boys igh school next year where they have the strictest code of conduct. I like the school. It enforces gentlemanly behaviour. Check out the link if you like.

www.jeppeboys.co.za

**Absinthe** · 12-01-2008, 01:43 PM

Nice! Manners is an essential feature, mostly neglected in modern parenting...

My grandmother was taught strict table manners and 'savoir vivre' by her german nanny, and in return she taught me, how to behave in public, how to eat properly and all that jazz.
She would make me eat with books under my arms and take my food away if I dropped them.
The german nanny locked my grandma's sister in the attic with one specific dish that she would refuse to eat (artichokes?) until she would be starving enough to eat it. She never snobbed any kind of food again (talk about german efficiency!)

She taught my father as well, but he ended up spoiling his own kids (my siblings) and the result is that they immersed their hands in food when they were younger, climbed on the table to reach something and played with food...let alone behaving very badly (and loudly) in public, which was quite embarassing when we all went out together.

I often pondered at the usefulness of such a school for such kids...