A Cross-Cultural Family 跨文化的家庭

The adventures of an American / Chinese, Chinese-speaking family.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Perspective
角度

This photo is how our daughter sees us.
She took a nice photo. It's sometimes easy to forget the different perspective that children have. We are like giants to them.

孩子
There is also a cultural difference in the way people view children. Especially Chinese and Korean cultures are very focused on children. On the whole, parents spend a lot of time on and with their children. They don't do this out of sacrifice as some in the West believe, but because they actually enjoy being with their children. Perhaps it could also be said that there is a higher expectation for the relationship between the children and the parents. Even fine restaurants and other public places are relatively child friendly.

I can still remember a funny incident when I was 8 and my parents took me to a fine restaurant in England, something that wasn't too common. This very proper gentleman tending to the name list looked at me scuffling my shoes off in proper rude American child style and said (imagine a proper British accent) "if I were taken to a fine restaurant by my parents I would not be taking my shoes off." I didn't mind but I do notice now as a parent the "adults only" places or those that are not all that welcoming to children.

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