- Hi, we're Joel and Lia.

- And today's video is all about U.S.A vs U.K. parenting.

- So we're not parents, let's just get that straight--

- In the U.K. or U.S.A.

- Or the U.S.A.

We found this article from The Insider,

and we just wanted to discuss it because

although we're not parents, there's loads of things

about kids and stuff that we can vouch for

and say maybe isn't so true.

So we just to discuss it and go through with it,

and we also are really interested in your opinions

which we encourage you to leave in the comments.

- Yes, so let's get crackin'.

- So the first one is to do with maternity leave,

so when a woman has, when a mother has a child,

in the U.K., she can expect to get about 52

weeks of paid maternity leave.

So that means she can go and look after her child at home

and still be paid a salary from work.

- For a full year to raise the child, over that,

well for the first year of their life.

- And I believe that the company get paid maternity leave

back from the government or at least a percentage

of the money that they've spent

giving this employee the money to be away.

Whereas in the U.S., there's not.

- They are not guaranteed a single day

of maternity leave, well, like paid maternity leave.

- [Together] which is crazy!

- And even the U.K. has more maternity leave

than the rest of Europe,

apparently the rest of Europe has 14 weeks maternity leave,

we have like, one of the highest maternity leaves,

- which is crazy. - 14 weeks.

That's not long, is it?

How many months can fit into 14 weeks?

- Four, eight, 12, so

- [Together] three and a half months

- and then that's it.

- That's it, you're either not being paid

or straight back to work.

- It's crazy, I mean, - it is.

It's not something I've thought about as a man

but now I've seen that in this article, it's crazy.

- Yeah that is nuts, isn't it?

- So what do Americans do?

It says they're not guaranteed

a single day of maternity leave,

which means some people might get

lots of maternity leave,

but some people might not get any.

- So the second thing that's sort of up for discussion

in this article, is that apparently cursing

is more common in sort of, like

U.K. parenting compared to like U.S. parenting.

And I don't know how much I agree with this,

I think it completely depends on the family.

- Yeah, oh definitely.

My parents didn't allow any swearing,

and they still don't, even though we're adults.

(Lia laughs)

Like they don't stand for that at all,

but I know that that's maybe more of my family,

but I don't know.

- Yeah, my godsister's children,

so she's like in her thirties,

and she accidentally swore, like,

in front of the kids, or her husband did,

and they were both, like, oh my gosh.

And then the child was in the car

and then said that word back out loud,

and they were both, like, oh my God.

- What have we done? - It's mortifying

And they're scared that the kid would say that

at school or something,

so, like, I don't know, I think, Brits maybe

just laugh at it a bit more, like that's really funny

but also a bit shocking.

- Well, I think in general,

our attitude to swearing is a lot more relaxed

than in the U.S., I know that's the stereotype anyway,

don't know if it's definitely true.

But I know it's always like,

"oh you Brits are so foul mouthed."

Like it is something that Brits find swearing funny.

Not everyone, my mum doesn't find it funny

in the slightest, but most Brits find swearing funny,

and they just think it's part of who we are, I guess.

- Yeah, as a child, like, I definitely did not swear at all.

Like if I was caught swearing, I'd get a slap.

But yeah I don't, I can't really remember what age

did that became like a okay,

she's saying the S word or something.

Completely depends on the family, doesn't it?

- Yeah, so the next one is the fact

that it's not uncommon to find kids in pubs

and that is something that, normally pubs are divided.

I remember as a kid, you weren't allowed in certain areas,

you weren't allowed at the bar,

but you were allowed still in the pub.

But the weird thing is, Americans don't have pubs,

so why is this a thing?

- Pubs are so relaxed

and pubs are different vibe to a bar.

Of course, in America, you wouldn't just

take your kid to the bar.

But like, in the U.K., our equivalent of that is the pub,

and kids are more than welcome there,

and it's kid-friendly atmosphere.

- Some pubs even have kids' play areas.

- Yeah, yeah.

- They've got - It's sort of

- like a little creche. - it's a family vibe.

- I just think it comes down to the

whole attitude towards alcohol anyway.

So, like, if an American is in the pub

or the bar three times a week,

then they might be described as an alcoholic.

Whereas in the U.K., if someone's at the pub

three times a week they might be described as sociable.

- Yeah that is true. - You know what I mean?

So like the kids are there anyway, you're there,

it's, people from your town or people you know

from work and it's like, more of a

like a family get-together that which so happens

to have alcohol involved.

- Which, I think, the stereotype is that bars in America

maybe are filled with middle age men.

Whereas pubs are filled with families.

Like, there are some pubs that have that stereotype as well,

being filled with middle aged men,

but it is more of a family vibe

so it wouldn't be weird to bring

your child to a pub in the U.K..

- It's just not out of the ordinary,

like if you walked into a pub and saw families there

and children running around, it's,

and maybe dogs as well, depends on the pub really,

loads of pubs are dog-friendly.

- So the next one is about child proofing,

not sure if we agree with this one,

but then we don't have kids, so not sure.

But it says that the U.S. is a lot more intent

and safety-conscious when it comes to kids,

they child proof their homes like there's no tomorrow

'cause they don't want their child to even get a scratch.

Whereas in the U.K., it says they're more relaxed

and they see, like, falling over and getting scratched

is just being character-building.

- In a way, I do know British families

that are like say that their kid like

falls over or has injured themselves

they're just like, well it's just a little scratch.

Like or I've heard of stories, like

"oh, one time that I fell on my head,

"and my mum didn't take me to A and E,

"accident and emergency hospital,

"'cause she was just, like, yeah, I'll be fine."

And which, I thought it was hilarious

'cause my family is complete opposite,

like, everything was like,

"Ah, what's the matter dear, everything okay?"

Like, very much, kind of, like, there'll be things

on the corners of stuff so I didn't bang my head,

and there'd be baby gates.

- I can't even remember anything about my childhood really,

I definitely can't remember whether there was

- child proofing anywhere. - Child proofing.

So next one is about summer holidays or summer vacations.

So kids in the U.S. tend to get longer holidays,

apparently you guys get, like,

12 weeks holidays in the summer,

- What a dream.

- but less interspersed the rest of the year.

Whereas we get six weeks for holiday,

which to us, is, like, amazing,

but then we get lots more different holidays

throughout the year, like a week here, two weeks there--

- Easter holidays, half term, things like that.

But when you hear about American summer vacations,

and they seem to be off for forever.

- ages, yeah.

- We're just, like, uh, what you're doing, like,

when did they break up, when did they go back to school?

Yeah, in the U.K. it's much shorter,

but as Joel said, we'd get, like maybe two weeks off

at Easter, and also it completely depends on

whether the school is public or private.

Often private schools get given more holiday, so.

So the next one's to do with baby showers,

which is a completely, sort of, new thing

that's just started coming over here from the U.S.

We never used to have baby showers,

however, in the last year,

I've been invited to three baby showers,

- I'm so sorry.

- and I've attended two of them

and brought presents for all of them.

- Must be awful.

- It's an extra added expense, so we tend to not do it,

it's completely taken from the U.S.

So when you have a party before the baby's born.

- Well, they know, they're Americans, yeah.

- For anyone who doesn't know, it's madness.

- Well, it's just, like, we keep doing that

with proms, with all these different things

that are coming over from the U.S.

that we're now adopting as our own,

it's just another U.S. import, basically.

Black Friday that we now do,

and now it's baby showers,

but I can't think of anything worse,

but luckily it's mainly a female thing.

So I probably will never have to go to one.

- You won't; I'd invite you to one if I did one,

I'd invite you - and I'd turn it down,

but no, for you I wouldn't (laughs).

- Oh Joel!

- No, I wouldn't for your kids, obviously.

- Obviously, the godfather couldn't be here today,

unfortunately, sorry.

- Unfortunately, he couldn't be

- [Together] Bothered

- He's drinking Prosecco - Prosecco

- I'm kidding.

Next one is to do with midwives.

So, after you've given birth in the U.K.,

About 10 days later, your midwife will come to your house,

and it's meant to be, to sort of check that you're okay,

sort of like with the baby and how things are going.

My mom told me, the midwives like to come over,

check the house, she's like,

yeah, they like to come over, check the house is clean,

and in order, and check that you're, you know,

that the baby is in an okay state,

that you've not brought it back to a sort of

chaotic, unclean home. - I didn't know that.

- So, this is provided through the NHS.

This is a free service.

And check out our video in the cards,

all about the NHS, which is a free healthcare service

which is available to everybody in the U.K.

It's not free; the taxpayer, we all pay for it,

and we all use it over the course of our lives,

whether we see a doctor, dentist,