Dear New York,
your children are beautiful. They’re all bundled up to keep warm in the last few days of winter. Many of them are dressed in jackets that have seen more winters than they have. But they don’t care; they snuggle up close to you, and they’re happy.
They remind us of things we’ve forgotten: that it doesn’t take too much to be happy. Designer clothes, dream jobs, lots of money. I fear that we’ve added these prerequisites to happiness on our children back in Singapore. Many of them carry schoolbags larger than themselves, have “structured” playtimes and participate in sports that their parents think will give them an edge, rather than games they enjoy.
I’m sure I’m stereotyping the Singaporean child here, and the many younger parents are making conscious moves to create some semblance of a childhood for their children.
Keep them warm.
Someone once remarked to me that when you are a tourist or visitor to a foreign land, the sense of adventure, wanderlust and escapism may distort your perception. We take on a different persona when abroad and tend to look at things with wide-eyed wonder. Perhaps the New Yorker kids may also have their trials and tribulations that we here in sunny Singapore are unaware of? However, I think that the weather probably makes them much happier than our hot, frustrated kids!
Hi Walter,
I have no doubt my lens as a tourist is smudged. But at the same time, living in a place and going through the daily grind keeps our head down to the plough, and we often fail to see beyond 2 feet ahead of us.
Yeah, I can’t agree with you more. Man, I really need a holiday and to kick off these shoes and just dance!