Love / Why don't Polish women treat education seriously for themselves? [130]

Well for my tupence worth most of the Polish females that I know are all very well educated...most have Honours if not Masters degrees in I.T. Economics, Finance and Accounting and trust me arent the type who just come to Britain and Ireland looking for a man to live off. In fact they seem to be just as independent as any women you will find here. Im not saying that there arent women who maybe only have a high school education and maybe followed husbands and boyfriends over here when their men came to work, but it is by no means the majority of the Polish women that I know....and I know quite a few. There is a language barrier to be overcome and many wont have the fluency in English to regard themselves as fit for employment in the Professions and thus go to work in coffee shops, retail outlets and factories but once they find their feet with the English language they have little trouble getting into the Professions. I am an Engineer and have worked with 2 Polish female Architects and 1 female Polish engineer (whom I have the good fortune to be dating). And they were easily as good at their job as any Irish person. And at least 75% of the professionally trained Polish women I know are all working in the fields in which they were professionally educated. In fact some banks, estate agents, finance companies etc find it an advantage to have a Polish person on their staff, as their are a lot of Polish people here in Ireland (and in Britain too) who feel more comfortable dealing with a person who at least speaks their language and can deal with their queries or needs effectively. Its a huge market that many employers are finding it advantageous to target.

UK, Ireland / Crap parenting in our UK youth today (in Poland it's a little better) [52]

Most of us here were brought up in the 70's and 80's probably when giving a child a "smack" was a relatively common occurance. The only thing is, what it was done to achieve and how was it delivered?? The only reason my parents gave us a "smack" so to speak was as a way of getting our attention and stopping us from doing what we were doing. It was never as a punishment. And it was never even hard...just a pat on the bum to make you turn around and stop. Children are by their very nature self obsessed and controlled by instincts and impulses that centre around themselves and what they want and have little or no knowledge or acceptance of how they interact with society or people around them, and have little or no caring about this. Most children dont even really develop any sense of their place within a community or develop a rudimentary notion of consequences of actions until they are at least 6 or 7 years old, and then only if they are taught that in a consistant fashion. And we werent bad kids...in fact we were pretty good kids but sometimes we needed checking and Im sorry...but sitting down to talk to me about what I was doing as a 4 or 5 year old to find the reasons why I was being maybe a little brat that day would have been silly. I didnt know why I was being bold...I just wanted to do something and I had no knowledge of the "why" or "wherefore" of my actions. Kids run on impulse...thats the way they are made. In order to interupt that impulse you have to arrest their attention. Some people shout at their kids...some people go all out and batter their kids. Some will try to sit the kid down and reason with it. Verbal abuse and beating are wrong...and reasoning just doesnt work. I know it is the widely varying actions of the adult which are the cause of the argument here because nobody wants to see a child being beaten senseless...or yelled at and verbally abused. But a smack just strong enough to halt the child is in my opinion acceptable. And it got my attention, long enough for my mum or dad to tell me to stop doing what I was doing. If they had sat me down and tried to explain to me or reason with me it would have gone in one ear and out the other...and I was a very smart kid but it simply would not have registered because a childs capacity to reason out the impacts its actions have on other individuals, its environment, community, society or whatever are just beyond its capabilities because they are concepts much to big to be grasped by a child that young. Giving a child a beating out of frustration is wrong...and I am in no way defending that, so is verbal abuse and calling the child names or yelling obscenities at it, but I think it comes because the parents are not consistant with teaching the child...just punishing it.

I will say I had a healthy amount of respect for my parents, fear would be way too strong a word, and I grew to learn that there were lines in the sand and you didnt cross them. And I loved them and they loved me. But a lot of kids these days dont even see the lines...they are never told no and half the time the parents are too busy and TV bring up the kids. I dont have kids of my own but I do have 3 adorable little nephews...and yes they can be little brats at times, but all kids can be. They test boundaries and patience like you wouldnt believe but my brothers and sister treat them the way were brought up...wth sometimes a smack to get their attention and then instruction on what to do...or not to do. They get a treat when they do something good or help around the house, they have a treat taken away when they are persistantly bold...cause and effect are taught and they are all good kids. They dont get something for nothing and spoilt, unless its their birthday or christmas and they dont get everything they want. They have everything they will ever need...but only get what they want if they are prepared to at least earn it. If you teach a child consistantly those small things soon enough they realise that by such simple concepts the world really revolves. Its the earliest lessons I was taught and they have always stood me in good stead.

Love / Expecting a baby with Polish partner - "multi-cultural pregnancy/parenting"? [45]

I have friends who have 2 kids. The father is Irish, mother is Polish. So their dad talks to them in English and mother talks to them in Polish. Also the oldest child who is 5 goes to a Gaelscoil which is a school where they teach all the subjects only through the Irish language. He is in Senior infants at the moment. And the kid has no problems at all. His English is perfectly fine for a child of his age...and his mum tells me his Polish is fine too. And trust me his Irish is very good. He can hold a simple conversation in Irish quite well. He sometimes has to pause a little when he is talking and tries to remember a word because he has 3 different words in 3 different languages to describe a single thing but it is happening much more rarely now. The funniest bit is his change of accent...he speaks Polish with a Polish accent...but has a strong Cork accent with English and Irish. I find that hilarious. ;o)

Love / Why don't Polish women treat education seriously for themselves? [130]


I'd say that was a pretty unfair generalisation. Polish women to me seem to be just as motivated to get married, have kids etc...as any Irish or English woman. And they are just as good in the kitchen and with the kids in my opinion. In fact the whole traditional woman behind the cooker, man earning a wage, thing is kind of old fashioned these days anyways. I can cook and look after kids just as well any woman!!! Most men can and do. Also give them a few years and most Polish people can hold a conversation just as well as a native. The topic is about Polish women and their education standards and they are just was well educated as any modern Irish or English women as far as I can tell.