Children in Chile

Chileans love children. They also want to have as many children as possible ("what they can afford", normally two) and are elated when you show pictures to them of your large family. They might even add: "Oh, my grandparents had a large family. I wish I could too." You won't hear a Chilean criticize you for having "too many" kids or for not knowing about how human reproduction works or for being so doltish and insensitive for "overpopulating the earth." If Chileans find out that you have a large family, they will probably make some comment about you not having a television, and they become even more entertained if in fact you really did not/do not have a TV!

Most Chilean young people tend to date until at least age 25, then marry and start having kids right away.

Chileans strive to make sure their kids are well-educated and sacrifice a lot to put them in private schools if possible. It is remarkable that homeschooling has yet to make its debut in Chile, other than with missionaries and ex-pats.

Chileans rarely, if ever, spank their kids. The most remarkable part of this equation is that Chilean kids are normally pretty well-behaved. There seems to be an innate drive in the culture for people to not scream, for people to not be a stand-out in anything except in group and school scoring activities, and to conform to a "respectable" culture. About the wildest thing I have seen mobs of Chilean kids do is get rowdy at a soccer game or paint graffiti on walls.I remember once that they mounted a large statue of a horse in Plaza Italia until they were shooed away by the cops. Parents and school teachers constantly admonish children to be respectful of their culture. 

Chilean children are taught to be nationalistic and to have national pride. Men are even discouraged to not marry foreign women, not matter how much prettier they are than Chilean women. The opposite does not seem to be true as Chilean women are permitted if not encouraged to marry foreign men, especially those of European descent. Chilean women also coddle a common myth that there are seven young women (18-40) for every single man in Chile, leaving many women "old maids" and making room for women to marry outside of their culture. I have had multiple conversations with different women who have recounted this myth to me with seriousness and heart-felt belief about the doctrine. By the way, the National Statistics Institute in Chile says that there are 50.5% women and 49.5% men in Chile. No surprise.

Chileans very rarely abuse or molest children. It is just so much against Chilean culture (and the same seems to be true in Argentina and Uruguay too).

The bottom line for Americans coming to Chile with children is that their kids will be very safe. Chile has relatively little violent crime anyway. Even if someone does steal your child's bicycle in Santiago, it is highly unlikely that the thief will sexually molest your child or harm him physically. I always counted this fact as a huge plus when I had my kids living with me in Chile full time.