Children in China

Children in China are awfully cute!  And they are so similar to American children, but in some ways they are more free than American children.  Children in China walk around the city with their friends and really don't feel any fear.  Their parents don't either.  Changsha is a pretty big town but invariably I see young children walking around by themselves 7, 8, maybe even 9 at night.  They play late at night and come up and talk to me.  But because they are so free, and some of them are the only child in the family, school can be difficult for them.  Going from being the center of attention to being 1 face in a class of 40 to 75 students.  The elementary students often act out for the bad attention they receive because at least they are receiving attention.

Anyone who has lived in China for a while will tell you that parents rarely control their children.  Children run amok, very similar to these two twins on my street.  Their parents never control them, once I walked by their house and the kids were climbing on a car that was clearly not theirs.  Part of me wanted to scream at the parents "Control your Children".  But while the parents never openly control their children when you speak to them they all know what is expected of them.  That they study hard and do well in school!

My favorite thing about the children is how strong and brave most of them are.  In America if a child had a baby tooth knocked out playing volleyball, would he keep playing?  I do not know.  In China, that is exactly what he did.  After assuring me "mei shi"  "nothing", he left the tooth on the playground and hopped back in the game!

Children in China, are really fun!  The most rewarding thing is sharing a laugh, a basketball match, a song or some sort of odd clapping game with them!