On the ears is customary in Switzerland.

Apparently not customary enough....

I have seen my swiss neighbour pull on her childrens ears in the garden when they have been naughty in the garden is that normal for the swiss, it looks pretty painful when she does it.

I think that's the point! When I was at school one of our teachers would make you stand on the chair. He would then take a firm grip of your sidies and tell you to jump down. Now THAT hurts!

I do not have kids, but I think that you need to speak with childrens perents and explain them all situacion........and then see what they will do about it.........

ok sorry op off topic

Our music teacher would throw the blackboard duster at us if we were not paying attention now that REALLY HURT having a block off wood hurled at your head.

We had that one, too. Imagine your surprise if you get caught talking to the guy behind you. No warning, bang on the back of the bonce! Another one would rap your knuckles with a wooden rule. One even had a meter rule to give you a "tap" without having to get up (he always moved the bad guys to the front row)! Sorry, still of topic but....

Bloody hell ok you beat me in that one ouch rap on the knuckles that must of been painful.

Sorry op back to topic.

All boys grammar school, need I say more? Back ob topic I think talking to the parents is the best first step but if the parents don't seem to care then it's a bit of a col-de-sac. Another thing is that if they're Swiss and you're not you start off being in the wrong before you've done anything. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the Swiss and I would never call them racist - I love the Swiss and I'm married to one - but at the end of the day WE are the "intruders" here and will be especially unwelcome if we can't speak the language. Difficult topic.

Wow, you are smart. Great response. Very funny. Try stand-up comedy. On second thought, don't quit your day job yet.



I have kids. 2 to be precise. They are 2 and 4 years old. I have lived in a country with lots of kids. I am looking to move back to a country with lots of kids.

Can you read? Did you read my post or just hit reply and post crap?

It's not kids I have a problem with. It's kids that run around a neighborhood without supervision or responsibility.

Here? Swiss reaction to direct confrontation is usually a blank stare, think cow on pasture. They can't handle the truth.

Oh, some one's a bit of a sourpuss, where's your sense of humour? I thought it was funny. Still, if you're not happy here (and it seems you're not) then the best thing is for you to go and let the rest of us enjoy it all the more!

It is indeed tough to deal with children not your own!

Even harder when they just hanging around trying to find something stupid to entertain themselves. Some of the reactions I have encountered :

1) Children should learn to settle their actions
2) My kid won't do that
3) say nothing and close the door
4) they are just kids, accidents do happen

Ja, from swiss families...unfortunately...

Place a sticker near the intercom that says "Dieses Gebäude ist mit Videokameras überwächt" (this building is under video surveillance). Just the thought of them being filmed might slow them down a bit.

If this notice is clearly visible you are within your right to record them on camera.

Well Tomcat, I for one, got what I think he meant by saying that. I thought it was a pretty humorous way of telling you that these problems are found everywhere. Sadly, it sounds like you have had a bad situation where you live now, in CH. However, I have lived here for 9 years and I have never felt kids around my neighborhood are not in any way, not even close, to the "swiss" children described here. Now, don't get me started telling you about my neighbors from hell with nasty little brats, who where being "raised" with no supervision, taught no respect, etc...that was in the U.S.

I believe what people are saying here, but sadly I don't believe it is only in CH that you find that. By the way, I also have children (3 to be exact) and they do not run around like dogs without a leash....like most of my neighbors, we keep a close eye on our kids. Yes, it is a 98% Swiss neighborhood. (well, what I mean by 98% --not sure of the exact percentage--is based on their school student body, and the reports I have seen from the Gemeinde".)

Get a "Mosquito teen repeller"

http://www.noloitering.ca/

I am really sorry, but could you please stop calling children brats, because i have 2 children, and i would never call them brats, even if they are naughty at home (to the op they would not dare do anything like the kids where you live).

Thankyou

But what if that's what the child is (i.e., "an annoying, spoiled, or impolite child")?

Cheers,
Tim

I've noticed this a lot over here. The kids tend to rule the roost. Whether this is because the Swiss are not that great at dealing with conflict (stare blankly until it goes away) or criticism I'm not quite sure.

If you're like me then your natural reaction is to get a bit p!ssed off with the kids behaviour and talk to their parents in a no-nonsense kind of a way, hoping that they will be on your wavelength and be very apologetic. Unfortunately, that don't work too well in this situation. A better approach would have been to apologise profoundly for disturbing your neighbours and enquire if they had also been having problems that evening with children ringing doorbells. Explain that you feel certain that it must be children from a different neighborhood and try to get their support should you have to call the police in the future. This would have taken the criticism of their angel out of the picture (even though you know it was them) and also there would have been no conflict. But at the same time you would have informed them that you intend to call the police in the future and this would force them to have a word with their kids behind closed doors.

I think that you may have lost the initiative a bit with your first reaction. I know it's hard and it goes against your natural urge, but you cannot get angry or even accuse them of any wrongdoing, even in a very mild way.

What you could do is write a general letter explaining that you and a few of your neighbours have experienced some trouble with children ringing doorbells and running away. Explain that what has obviously started as a game has now become incredibly disturbing and that if it continues then the police will be informed.

One final word, anyone hits my kid and they'll have me to deal with. I'm under no illusions as to what kids are like. If he does something bad then come and talk to me about it, I'll be all ears and he'll be grounded. But if you hit him then I may not have the same restraint.

I agree that's annoying.

However, I had a parent once crash on my door complaining about my kids who he "had just seen running away from his doorbell". When he had finished remonstrating in a most agressive manner I proceeded to send him away with more than a blank stare but a very big flea in his ear given that we had been sitting down to dinner for the last half hour and there was no way that my kids could have been in two places at once!!!