Meghan and harry

RichmondPark

Being very cynical I thought that the children were brought along to reinforce the image of dynasty and detract from the fact that the Queen is no longer able to attend such events.

You might think so but I couldn't possibly comment

Being very cynical I thought that the children were brought along to reinforce the image of dynasty and detract from the fact that the Queen is no longer able to attend such events.

GrannyGravy13

volver & Germanshepherdsmum parents have to pick their battles with children of any age, this wasn’t the place to chastise him and risk a further tantrum.

The Duchess chose to laugh/play off the situation, and keep him calm.

Mind you judging by some of the opinions on here and Twitter there are those who would have liked to have seen him put over her knee and spanked, which I think is frankly disgusting.

I agree.
It's shocking.

I think most of us on GN are parents and probably grandparents (not all) and we've all smiled through gritted teeth when a very young child has played up in public, hissing quietly "Behave, everyone's watching you".
However, in Kate's case, half the world was watching Louis' antics.

It was a long afternoon. Surely a nanny could have quietly taken him for an hour or so, poor Kate she must have been exhausted

I didn't expect anything of Kate. Except perhaps to have brought up a better behaved child that didn't need spanking

Ah yes, blame the mother. She’s the only person involved in raising a child. The father has no influence, neither do siblings or school and nursery.

If that’s the worst that Louis ever does, he’ll be a paragon of virtue compared to many small children. All that noise at the parade would have sent me potty, tbh.

Half of the under-fives in town here on Saturday seemed to have been afflicted with whatever was bothering Louis. I’ve never seen/heard so many tantrumming children at one time! None of them were hit around by parents, that I could tell. Some parents were trying to reason with their child (as if you can reason with a 3/4yo if they don’t want to be reasoned with!) and another resignedly tucked their screeching child under their arm and carted them away.

I was surprised they had no contingencies for the little chap as it

GSM ??

The good company remark was to volver.

I'm in good company then. If it was something too long for him to sit through and behave, why not leave him at home? I'm sure the parents and grandparents would have had a more pleasant evening without him. My son was well behaved and could be trusted not to play up like this at 4 years old, though I wouldn't have taken him to a long 'grown up' event. He was brought up to be well behaved even though as an only child and only grandchild he was probably indulged. Louis is almost school age and if he has a propensity to behave like this I would not have been taking him along. I hope he's not going to grow up to be a cocky, entitled 'spare'.

So true Pantglas2 all of our five were raised the same, all totally different and fairly unpredictable at 4, apart from one who slept anywhere at anytime and for as long as you would let them (always slept at night also) a bit of a little human sloth.

volver

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cL-aYdGMMM

The video.

That's very informative, thank you for posting volver.

My thoughts:

Children of Louis' age often struggle to sit still. Their core muscles aren't yet developed and if they don't fidget they struggle to hold their balance.

Catherine was speaking to her son, fair enough, but she was too close for comfort to him. You can see him try to hold her at his arm's length twice, that's his "personal space."
The thumbing the nose gestures are rather rude, yes, but are probably down to his frustration.

He's a very energetic, physical little boy. Watch his enjoyment as he joins in with the music at the end of the video, compared to how composed his older siblings are, he just can't help himself!

I don't understand why it is fashionable to show your tongue to people in Facebook photos. There are certain gestures I and my little chums were taught were rude, so rude that we would only whisper about them. Thumbing the nose was more rude than sticking the tongue out. The other almost unmentionably rude sign was making long ears with the hands and waggling the hands.

Even today it makes me cringe if I see people doing any of these signs in public.

So amusing reading these last posts, reminding me of the comment a kind lady made to me in Asda many years ago when my 4 year old daughter threw a wobbly at checkout after being told no sweets until after lunch.

The cashier passed comment on DD’s bad behaviour as I was paying and the lady next to me sneered at the woman in a very loud voice “Easy to bring up other people’s children - it’s our own we have problems with!”

Still true eh?

volver

Ach, this is why I'm not a Royalist Or a mother.

The balcony thing was funny, the hands over the ears thing. Him moving about from knee to knee was funny; keeping the child entertained and all that. Even him having a bit of a strop and having a sulky face on the platform. But the disrespect he showed his mother? In a public place? Why is that just something that's to be accepted, maybe even laughed about, "because he's only a child"?

Nobody is laughing at it in the sense you mean. I raised a grin because it shows the type of character he is at the moment he will change a tad no doubt. But, there isn’t a parent on here who given the circumstances - in the eye of the entire world - think about - would have behaved exactly as DoC behaved. You fervently hope that no one is watching (some hope), I would never ever go into full telling off mode in public as at 4 years old you can’t be sure that you will win that battle. Learn lessons for next time ( maybe get nanny to bring him along just for an hour). Have the wisdom to understand that this too will pass, providing you set boundaries and largely keep to them.

Well it's just me and GSM then....

volver

Ach, this is why I'm not a Royalist Or a mother.

The balcony thing was funny, the hands over the ears thing. Him moving about from knee to knee was funny; keeping the child entertained and all that. Even him having a bit of a strop and having a sulky face on the platform. But the disrespect he showed his mother? In a public place? Why is that just something that's to be accepted, maybe even laughed about, "because he's only a child"?

At four they push the boundaries all the time though volver, it’s just part of growing up. It doesn’t mean they aren’t disciplined approprIately, it’s exactly what the naughty step was invented for, but Kate couldn’t put him on the naughty step at that point. I bet mums of current four year olds the world over empathised with her.

Ach, this is why I'm not a Royalist Or a mother.

The balcony thing was funny, the hands over the ears thing. Him moving about from knee to knee was funny; keeping the child entertained and all that. Even him having a bit of a strop and having a sulky face on the platform. But the disrespect he showed his mother? In a public place? Why is that just something that's to be accepted, maybe even laughed about, "because he's only a child"?

Spot on Casdon

And I completely agree with you, Casdon

Whitewavemark2 totally agree with your last post.

Anniebach

Is spanking a child still legal ?

Not in Wales Anniebach.

I have never met a four year old that doesn’t sometimes throw tantrums. It’s not down to poor parenting, it’s down to the nature of very young children, I’m not sure if selective memories are coming into play, or if some people had perfectly behaved children themselves. All I can say is I’m from a big family, I know a lot of people and I’ve never met a perfectly behaved four year old.

Do none of us remember that William was a holy terror as a toddler?

Running away from Granny.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rFzC31Q82w

Being jealous of his brother.
www.hellomagazine.com/healthandbeauty/mother-and-baby/20220426138746/prince-william-tantrum-childhood-princess-diana-video/

Flushing hankies down the toilet at Buckingham Palace (can't find a link for that, but I remember it in the news).

Sorry, crossposted. I meant I cant agree that Louis ‘ misbehaviour would be allowed at home.

I can’t agree. Kate obviously disapproved and would not have let him get away with it at home.
Surely we have all had children or grandchildren who have misbehaved, especially when in a confined space for an unreasonable length of time. In other circumstances a parent would probably have removed the child from the situation and dealt with the behaviour privately.

volver

Bit of a cross post here WWM2.

But as I said above, I'm not expecting Kate or any of them to do anything on the stands during the pageant.

But, I find it hard to accept that children who are so important to the well being of this nation (apparently) and who have all sorts of attention lavished on them, don't know that putting your hand over your mother's mouth and making rude gestures at her is not acceptable.

Does he behave like that at home? Why on earth did they think that 's OK? Where did he learn that kind of behaviour?

Oh come on, you are doing exactly what you often accuse others of doing and making suppositions.

Think about it.

The maturation of a 4 year old brings with it challenging behaviour that sometimes leaves the parents wondering if they are ever going to “win” the battle. Louise’s behaviour is absolutely typical of a 4 year old. I can remember thinking just that - God I’m not winning this battle, but I was ably supported by various books that I turned to time and time again. I never had any need to physically punish my children ( abuse in my books) and we all tottered through to adulthood where they are making excellent citizens.

Give every parent some slack - bringing up a balanced adult is hard bloody work.