Babies and Clhildren: Spare the Rod, Pt. 2

When I was 20 and living in the south of France with a stately, dignified widow, I would occasionally run into her son and his family when they came to visit. Her two grandchildren were Bernard and Christine, called Kiki, who was about six during my year there. Kiki viewed me as a slightly addle-brained playmate. I was struggling to understand not just French but French with a Midi accent and then Midi-accented French as spoken by a child. She taught me a funny children's song about a 90-year-old woman who broke a tooth while eating cream. "Well," said the 90-year-old's mother, "what do you expect when you eat cream!" I can still sing it in French, if you'd like to hear it. Kiki must be in her late fifties now.

 

One day when the family was visiting, Kiki said something that angered her father. Before I knew what was happening, he had clouted her on the side of the head so hard that she staggered. He just swept his arm back and let fly at this 6-year-old. I was shocked beyond speech. A bolder person than I might have remonstrated. But for all I knew this was common French behavior. Maybe all children were subject to sudden attacks upside the head. Madame, my landlady, said nothing. The children's mother said nothing. The father said nothing. And then, after a moment of silence, ordinary conversation resumed.

 

Is this any way to treat a child?

 

 

Copyright 2008 Ann Tudor   

www.anntudor.ca
http://scenesfromthejourney.blogspot.com