A place where children come first
I’ve mentioned before that I always receive special treatment when I go out with the kids here. Strangers help me carry things, offer me seats on the train and will tell jokes/make faces to entertain the kids. I think I notice the difference so much because people in big cities
The other night, we were invited to the premier of Oliver Stone’s documentary South of the Border. President Chavez and Oliver Stone were in attendance and gave speeches prior to the film. As expected, when they went to take their seats, people were going crazy. Everybody wanted to shake their hands and say a few words. From the second story balcony, there was this little boy (about 5 years-old) who kept calling “Chavez, Chavez, el Comandante!!”
I thought it was pretty cute the first 10 times, but after that I started to worry that people in the audience were going to get annoyed. I kept waiting for someone to shout out some rude comment to the mom who was standing right next to him. I had a flashback to that airplane incident a few years ago in the States when a woman was removed from an airplane with her small son because he kept saying “Bye-bye plane”.
Surprisingly, no one ever became annoyed. The kid must have yelled 25 times before President Chavez acknowledged him (which got a huge round of applause) and each time all that happened were laughs from amusement. It’s taking time, but I am slowly getting used to how children are viewed in this society. I just hope I won’t be too disturbed by the change when we go back to the States.
Tags: Caracas, Children Abroad, Children in the US, Children in Venezuelan Culture, Oliver Stone, President Chavez, South of the Border, Venezuela, Venezuelan Culture
Very interesting to see the contrast!
That's brilliant! Now you see, I would have made a HUGE boo boo by shouting, "Will someone please shut that kid up?!!!".
Kidding!! But that sounds cute in the first minute, hella annoying for every second after.
Great to see that the society values the little ones. Now I wonder if that esteem also translates into the wealth of overprotective nonsense/spoiling ("Don't run, little Billy! You'll hurt yourself! " "You don't understand, if I don't let her, she'll do it anyway AND be mad at me.") that we see in North America.
I think there´s somewhat of a disconnect between the way parents deal with their children in North America and the way society deals with them. On one hand, parents have become more lenient and feel as though they do not have control over their children. However, society is less forgiving and expects children to act a certain way all the time. When they don´t, the parents are made to feel bad. For instance, I always hear parents in the States say they are mortified when their children throw tantrums in public places. I think they are mortified because society has the expectation that children are not supposed to disrupt the flow of things – ever. When I cam to visit in October, after the plane landed there was a kid sitting behind me who apparently was having trouble with his ears (I just thought he was over the trip and tired). About 10 different people in my vicinity tried different things to help him feel better (gave him toys, made faces, sang to him) – none of which helped. The thing was, everybody felt bad for the kid, knowing that he must be in a world of hurt. Nobody gave the mom strange looks are rolled their eyes. It is really a different way to look at children…
A place where children come first…
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