Worries over. I'm not turning into one of them. I have some new worries though, I might be turning into Marvin from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I know, dreadful isn't it?
Mostly, I'll never be a true Filipino because I don't like children (don't worry, people-that-I-know-that-read-this, when you get children I'll totally like all of them). Filipino's love their children. Which is good. I'm not saying 'loving your children' is a bad move. That would be a bad move.
What I do think is a bad move is the assertion that loving something means you have to be nice to it all the time. I would imagine that this assertion would melt away quite organically when you have children, when they start being annoying. Not on this island though. Kids basically rule the world here. I've seen kids get away with a LOT of stuff here.
Sure there's the always-popular running and screaming and shouting that children quite naturally do. I've seen children stealing groceries from other peoples carts at the supermarket (admittedly a brilliant prank). They usually get away with this stuff, and I guess that's not really enough to bother me.
What bothers me is that I've noticed that the kids are actually in charge. I've seen children commanding their parents to take them somewhere. Not in a whiny way. Whining is for children that don't get what they want right away. Just a simple, down-to-business, almost militaristic command.
"We're going to get ice-cream."
"Now I want a toy."
or sometimes it's just a word.
"Chicken"
At this point the parents will look at the child with not even the slightest disdain, maybe look at each other with parental pride and endearment, and follow up the children's latest whim. Sometimes, a pressing matter makes its way to the parent's frontal cortex: "Okay, but we have to get you new clothes straight after, alright?" The kid won't listen. It's knee-deep in a bucket of fried chicken. You can hear the fabric of his shirt tightening.
Precious.
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