ferrousland.com - daily news archives
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
bahrainis love children - 05:17 PM
(filed under 'bahrain')
someone told me that in bahrain, they really love children. even from my so far limited experiences here, it's been proven true. every day that i've been here i've taken smiley down the road for a walk to the shops. on almost every occasion someone has stopped us to say hi to smiley.
it's very different to the western culture which i've experienced. in australia it's not uncommon for a young child or baby to be noticed & admired by a stranger, but it's almost always a woman. so far here in bahrain, it's always been the men who have stopped us to greet smiley. in australia (& from what i understand, also in other western cultures such as america) if a man was to pay that much attention to a child, the parent of the child would become very nervous, wondering if the man's intentions were pure. i guess having that stigma attached to a man's enjoyment of children would be enough to stop a western man showing much attention to any person's child other than the children in his own family, even if he was inclined to outwardly show how much he liked kids.
when someone has stopped smiley to say hello, they also give much more than just the passing smile or glance of admiration that would typically happen on the street or in a shopping centre in australia. they squat down to his level, actively talk to him, hold or shake his hand, ask him his name & sometimes even pick him up.
if i hadn't been told by reliable sources that this was entirely normal in bahrain, then i would have been quite nervous about it. in fact, i still am a little wary of this, but i'm sure i'll get used to it. it's actually quite nice to see little ones so obviously appreciated.
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