Inside Voices?

[Travel60]

Do people not teach their children about "inside voices" anymore?

I am sitting in a casual but nice breakfast restaurant (table service) and I cannot even hear to talk with my breakfast companion because of a table of kids who have been screaming non-stop. Inexplicably, they are now singing "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" at the top of their lungs.

The parents are just sitting there looking at their phones ignoring it.

I was taught, I taught my children, and they've taught my grandchildren that when indoors, we speak just loudly enough so our companions hear us. Not the next table. Not the whole restaurant.

Just another piece of evidence that we really don't care about others anymore?

 

[Christine]

Do people not teach their children about "inside voices" anymore?

I am sitting in a casual but nice breakfast restaurant (table service) and I cannot even hear to talk with my breakfast companion because of a table of kids who have been screaming non-stop. Inexplicably, they are now singing "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" at the top of their lungs.

The parents are just sitting there looking at their phones ignoring it.

I was taught, I taught my children, and they've taught my grandchildren that when indoors, we speak just loudly enough so our companions hear us. Not the next table. Not the whole restaurant.

Just another piece of evidence that we really don't care about others anymore?

There's always those parents who don't--and they might be the majority now.

My husband was in Japan this summer where they are very polite, quiet, and orderly in public. He was on a local train from Tokyo traveling north to the country. The train employees and automated announcements were directing people to be quiet on the train, speak in low voices, don't disrupt your neighbors, etc. Of course right behind my husband was a very loudmouth child, about 10 years old, just yelling out his conversation. American. My husband could see the disbelief on all the other travelers' faces.

But yeah, back to your restaurant example. I am past the age of kids--my kids are adults. There are just certain restaurants I won't go to. Food/dining is expensive enough and I want a pleasurable meal so I avoid places like Texas Roadhouse because the one time I went it was full of yelling children.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Do people not teach their children about "inside voices" anymore?

I am sitting in a casual but nice breakfast restaurant (table service) and I cannot even hear to talk with my breakfast companion because of a table of kids who have been screaming non-stop. Inexplicably, they are now singing "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" at the top of their lungs.

The parents are just sitting there looking at their phones ignoring it.

I was taught, I taught my children, and they've taught my grandchildren that when indoors, we speak just loudly enough so our companions hear us. Not the next table. Not the whole restaurant.

Just another piece of evidence that we really don't care about others anymore?

Obviously nobody cares anymore and that is why everywhere you go there are children screaming and causing chaos when 30 years ago they were perfect angels.

…Or you just had the bad luck to have rude people at your restaurant.

 

[sam_gordon]

It's not just kids though. I stopped at a fast food place yesterday for lunch. Place my order, go to sit down, and I hear voices coming out of a speaker. I look over toward the source to see if there was a TV in the area. Nope, just a couple at a table and the male was watching a video on his phone with the speaker turned up loud.

I was only there for ~15 minutes, but the speaker was blaring the entire time. I considered saying something, or going over to them on my way out to ask about the video because it must have been entertaining, but got chicken.

 

[Marrila]

We were sitting in a booth at a local restaurant last week. Three (what appeared to be) older retiree men sat down just after our food arrived. They launched into a very loud conversation and it's funny, the comment I made to my husband was they left their inside voices at home.

 

[Disneylover99]

We were sitting in a booth at a local restaurant last week. Three (what appeared to be) older retiree men sat down just after our food arrived. They launched into a very loud conversation and it's funny, the comment I made to my husband was they left their inside voices at home.

Or maybe they left their hearing aids at home.

 

[Travel60]

Yes, I was in Japan in June and it was apparently the week when a lot of schools do field trips. We saw hundreds of students in uniform from dozens of schools. In line, quiet, obedient but obviously paying attention and interested.

While at the International Exhibition in Osaka (World's Fair), a group of two or three fifth graders came up to us and asked if they could ask some questions for an assignment. They spoke good English, got our jokes, asked good questions and thanked us for helping them.

The US is doing something wrong with parenting and education. Probably has been for decades and that could explain the issues we are seeing with young people's self esteem and self regulation.

 

[Christine]

Yes, I was in Japan in June and it was apparently the week when a lot of schools do field trips. We saw hundreds of students in uniform from dozens of schools. In line, quiet, obedient but obviously paying attention and interested.

While at the International Exhibition in Osaka (World's Fair), a group of two or three fifth graders came up to us and asked if they could ask some questions for an assignment. They spoke good English, got our jokes, asked good questions and thanked us for helping them.

The US is doing something wrong with parenting and education. Probably has been for decades and that could explain the issues we are seeing with young people's self esteem and self regulation.

Japan still has a heavy culture of caring what other people think, having enough shame and sense to know if you'd acted the fool, and prides itself on decorum and respect. The focus on the collective and not the individual. We are completely opposite of that, even though we don't think so. They seem to eventually tend to follow U.S. trains albeit maybe 50 years later, so we shall see which way they go.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Or maybe they left their hearing aids at home.

That’s what close captioning is for then.

 

[Micca]

they are now singing "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" at the top of their lungs.

No one should ever sing that song, much less in September. Disgraceful

 

[BrianL]

Yes, I was in Japan in June and it was apparently the week when a lot of schools do field trips. We saw hundreds of students in uniform from dozens of schools. In line, quiet, obedient but obviously paying attention and interested.

While at the International Exhibition in Osaka (World's Fair), a group of two or three fifth graders came up to us and asked if they could ask some questions for an assignment. They spoke good English, got our jokes, asked good questions and thanked us for helping them.

The US is doing something wrong with parenting and education. Probably has been for decades and that could explain the issues we are seeing with young people's self esteem and self regulation.

Oh, man, yeah! When I was in Japan, at the Hilton Tokyo Bay behind Tokyo Disneyland, the lobby was just full of school-aged children obviously on some kind of special trip. In the US that would be a nightmare to have at your hotel, but these kids were quiet and respectful. They would stop to let us - their elders - walk past. We would see these groups in the parks, and they were having a good time and all, being kids and all sure, but never obnoxious or rude. Overally, the entire country is like that.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Oh, man, yeah! When I was in Japan, at the Hilton Tokyo Bay behind Tokyo Disneyland, the lobby was just full of school-aged children obviously on some kind of special trip. In the US that would be a nightmare to have at your hotel, but these kids were quiet and respectful. They would stop to let us - their elders - walk past. We would see these groups in the parks, and they were having a good time and all, being kids and all sure, but never obnoxious or rude. Overally, the entire country is like that.

I was walking out of a BK restaurant a few days ago. I do use a cane. As I was coming out, near the door, there was an Asian lady coming in. She was still on the outside, I was still on the inside. The doors had glass panels. She opened the door, held the door for me and sort of respectfully stepped aside to let me out. As I passed her and thanked her, she gave me a slight bow as is common with many Asians. I was really impressed. I think that even if I did not have the cane, it would have been the same.