The Cultural Differences of Children

I am on the 4th ring road driving Aidan home and the subject of animals comes up. I ask him if animals can think and he thinks they do. I ask him if animals can speak Chinese or English or any other language. He thinks not. I ask him how they can they think without language. I ask him if he can think without language. He smiles. I do not know if it is a thinking or unthinking smile. I mention to him that maybe we do think without language. Maybe that is why sometimes you feel happy or angry and can’t explain why. We drive on. Traffic is heavy and I need to focus on the road.

I’ve seemingly been around a lot of talk lately about the cultural differences between Americans and Chinese. And certainly they do exist. Chasms even. Can I as American understand them? Maybe, I guess enough not to fall into the chasm. But like understanding a child’s mind, one can never really be sure what is going on in there. It’s just a parallel universe with signposts the hint at similarity but really are just masking the differences.

Another example from Elisa’s universe. Over the past six months or so Elisa has made friends with a boy about her age. At first Elisa was very standoffish and claimed not to like him. But his ayi kept bringing him by and soon she called him her boyfriend. After some time past she threw a small celebration that she called their anniversary, picture below.

Some more time passed and then they announced they had a baby, picture below.

And just yesterday I was taking Elisa to the market next door and as soon as we stepped outside she stopped in her tracks. Without and hint of any emotion she said she wanted to go home. I asked her why and she said it was because her boyfriend was coming over. So I took her back upstairs and then headed back to the market. This time when I got outside I could see her boyfriend in the playground which must have been the what she saw just a moment earlier.

So I could project my adult interpretation of what was going on with the romance between Elisa and her boyfriend. Instead I just accept that their universe is different than mine and integrate it into my life. Integrate and celebrate. The cultural differences of children.