Noisy Children

 I can't wait for the schools to go back and for my life to get back to normal.  During school holidays and half terms I stay in far more than I usually do only venturing out for set appointments that cannot be missed.  

When I was a child I was brought up to be seen and not heard.  Obedience to this was paramount and if I was not obedient to my parents then I knew I would answer for it.  

I wasn't an unhappy child with this.  We were taken out and did fun things.  We were not deprived in any way.  Our family photograph album illustrates this with photos of beach, funfairs, tennis and garden outdoor teas with friends of my parents and their children.  We visited our cousins in Suffolk at the big house in Bury and had fun mooching around their garden which I remember vividly.  Always there are smiling faces and running around.  My parents friends had a cine camera and we would be filmed in gardens and boats on the Norfolk Broads and then on winter evenings we would go for film shows to see ourselves. 

I don't remember being screechy, screamy, running riot in public places or being shouted at at all.  There would be no back chat.  

Sometimes as a treat we would be taken to the pictures to the early evening showing of the latest popular films of the time, my father would take the boys to one cinema to see maybe a Western or a war film while mum and I went to something more girly.  We would be picked up from schools, and mum would bring sandwiches for our tea which we would eat in the car.  A packet of Smarties for during the film and an ice cream at the interval would be part of the adventure and being given the responsibility of going down to the front to fetch the ice-creams from the usherette would be part of the fun.  But still no screaming and shouting. 

Now my quiet days in the cinema café have been ruined so many times by screaming and shouty children that I have more or less abandoned cinema going during the holidays.  The last time I went I sat whilst a child shouted at the top of his voice and was not once was it suggested he should quieten down.  I wished I had headphones that were ear defenders.  I don't own any headphones at all.  When that particular parent eventually stood up to leave the cafe a second child appeared who had been sitting UNDERNEATH her chair hiding in her voluminous skirt and was probably why the other child had been shouting so much.  It was all a puzzle to me but imagining us doing that in the 1950s was, well, quite unimaginable. 

A couple of weeks ago my friend and I had to change table twice in Waitrose café because children were using the café as a place to run around the tables playing catch.   The parents sat passively chatting and ignored how their children were upsetting other café users.  You may recall that a man came over to us to sympathise with us and to comment on the situation which had also ruined his quiet coffee and chat with his wife. 

Next week life returns to normal.  I am meeting a friend for lunch in a popular restaurant which I know we will have virtually to ourselves next week.   I hope to resume going to the cinema too, going out on the train and generally returning to normal. 

Are there any children who are still brought up to be seen and not heard?  When I see the behaviour of children in public places I wonder that anybody ever wants to be a teacher these days because the lack of discipline must be extremely difficult to cope with in the classroom and to introduce good manners and good discipline in said classroom must make teaching an academic subject like the three Rs secondary to the job.