I explained that my three made-in-Italy toddler daughters, Achilles, Hector, and Patroclus, are sometimes perceived by Americans to be a rowdy and, well, RUDE set of individuals.
Respectable American families, I explained, expect some degree of good manners, particularly in adult-child interactions. For example, children are not expected to directly and bluntly contradict an adult who has asked them to do something.
Does this sound normal to you? Because it sounds normal to me. But then...
The Italian parents burst out laughing. Two of them turned to each other to say, "Poor kids! What are they supposed to say if they disagree!"
And then, hoping to clear up what seemed like an unbelievable account of American parental harshness on my part, one of my Italian interlocutors said: "But, it's not actually like that STILL NOW, is it? We're talking about how it was a long time ago, right?"
Cultural differences...