>
> are they really "taught" by their parents not to have kids, or is that just
>
> the popular trend, as it is with much of those here in the US that SHOULD be
>
> the ones having kids.

Parents are telling their kids not to ruin their lives by having kids, yes. And it is a crazy notion to have more than one if you do. In Denmark people are assumed to get 2 kids which can really get italians (disclaimer: in this region at least) outraged hen you tell that haha. And on topic , they also dont teach nor even allow them to try to cook.

Italian regions have many different rules that are sacrilege. Thats probably why they are at verbal war with eachother, always joking about people from the other regions. Grappa and the famous panetone cake are for "those people in milan" (read: northern italy) some people I worked with in Salento said (southern italy) and in this region north east, meat on pizza is banned.. In Liguria (around Genova) meat with pasta is banned (so no pasta bolognese there!), around verona (region veneto) you can get breaded veal brains (and the perfect wine for it is Amerone which is made in that region. First I had it with another wine, and it was horrible, but with amerone I could eat it), but they are banned in this region (fruilli venezie).