Turning Japanese

The other day I was watching Jonathan Ross's Japanerama on BBC 3. There was a short segment in which it was explained that children were taught, as a sign of respect to their parents, never to whistle at night. My first thought was that Japanese kids must be incredibly well behaved. Does it really matter if your kids are whistling away in the dark. At least they're not out nicking cars. Is whistling at night really the worst Japanese parents have to put up with?

Thinking about it though, perhaps it's not a bad idea. Maybe it could be adopted over here by parents who cant handle their out of control kids? After all, if your kids, or your own parenting skills, don't meet the high standards you expected what's the simple solution? Lower the bar! Think about it. "Oh yeah, well, you know, my boys are very respectful of me. I mean, they're abusive, they take my money, they go out happy slapping, drinking and smoking and I've never got any idea when they'll be home at night but at least I know that they'll never whistle at night."