Raising Kids

I got a good scolding today from our home owner.  I smile at it now because I've come to expect this response when the subject of 'raising kids' comes up, but she was by far the most firm in her shock and advice than others in the past. It is NOT Asian culture to allow infants/young children to sleep alone.  Many ladies will ask me when they see Anna has her own room and bed "Does she sleep alone?" By now, I know it's coming and I just smile and say "Yes, she does."  They always raise their eyebrows in shock and ask "since when?" When I reply that she has slept in her own bed since she was two weeks old, their faces immediately register shock and they reply "Astaga!" (the equivalent of "O my goodness!") Occasionally, I get an "Oh, how nice. Then you can actually sleep."  But typically, I get responses like "Doesn't she get scared? What if she cries??" Typically, here, a child will sleep in the parent's bed until 3-4 years possibly even 6 years before moving to his own bed.  In these conversations, after shock is expressed, I normally explain briefly in neutral tones my country's way of raising kids -- and how I didn't know it was strange until I moved here.

Anyway, this has all become pretty standard to me, but my home owner's response today was quite severe. She's an eccentric lady in her 50's who, when we went through the "she's been sleeping on her own since she was two weeks old," pretty much freaked out.  She said "Don't do that! They might roll over and suffocate or cover themselves with a blanket and die!! What would you do if they die?" In an oral Asian culture, you repeat what is important, so she of course repeated this several times throughout our conversation and continued to chide me to not let Anna sleep alone that it is dangerous. When I explained to her that American culture does things a little differently sometimes than Asian culture she immediately said "Oh yes, everyone is different but all ways are good" and then went back to telling me how bad it was to let a child sleep on her own.

I just smiled and allowed her to talk . . . but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna try to train this next one to sleep on his/her own as soon as possible.  I'm also pretty sure that my home owner is probably out there right now telling people about the funny white family that lets their children sleep alone. :)