American children vs British children

I had done a lot of research by the time we had made our move to England, and one thing I kept running across on blogs was the difference between American and British children. American children, most blogs would say, are more active and energetic. British children are more quiet and reserved. We have been here for two weeks now, and these people have nailed it. I have two active, healthy all American children. I don’t want them to change but I also don’t want them to struggle to fit in for the next two years being called unruly American kids. At a school assembly last week, all the kids in Bean’s school gathered and were singing songs. All the kids were standing still, in a straight line…except for my sweet little girl. She was rocking back and forth to the music, popping her head up and down to look for me and waving every time she saw me. At her old American school – they would have all been doing that exact same thing, I have seen it many times when I was there for an activity. At this school –she really stuck out and the woman sitting next to me even said –you can see the new American girl in the group! Today, our baby sitter started. She is from Sweden and is an au pair for a family that has a 6 and 8 year old. They are in school during the day and she was looking for a daytime job, so she is going to be helping with Gerbie. Since Bean is out of school on spring break – she is also watching her right now. So far, it is going well and since I work from home I am here and can monitor what is going on. Within the first 15 minutes of Annie being here, Bean was telling her about her school in America, her best friend from back home, her new school and pretty much didn’t stop talking for the first hour. They have both been dragging her from room to room, playing games including hide and seek and catch. At lunch, I asked Annie if she has noticed a difference in my American children versus the British children she watches and she didn’t hesitate –YES, she said. Your kids are so smart and talkative and so ACTIVE. They have so much energy. They play and talk and play and talk and TALK. While sometimes when the kids are bouncing off the walls, yelling and playing, we may wish that they were a little more quiet and proper…in the end, my children are all American, active, energetic kids and I hope they don’t change at all.