Spending a lot of time with Chinese children and their families, I encounter many cultural differences every day. The most striking difference I've found is between what is acceptable for young Chinese children to do and what is normal for children in the West.
My own preconception was that Chinese children are mostly the only child in the family, and therefore would be "wrapped in cotton wool" as the saying goes. To my surprise, I've found this to be quite the opposite.
A great example of this is when I was watching a class of three-year-old children playing in the school playground. Running around, screeching with glee, they were chasing each other and jumping up and down excitedly. The only thing was – each child had been given a clear plastic bag by the teachers and were being cheered on to put the bag over their heads!
To me, having grown up in a culture where I was not even allowed to look at a plastic bag until I was 12 years old, this was both horrifying and intriguing.
The children were having so much fun. They were being supervised. No one was unconscious on the floor after suffocating inside a plastic bag.
The day after I encountered the plastic bags in the playground, the children were making fruit porridge at school. Every child was asked to bring a chopping board and something to cut up fruit with. Imagine my disbelief when one four-year-old girl reached into her backpack to pull out a meat cleaver! As I turned around in shock, I saw a three-year-old boy brandishing a Swiss army knife!
Just when I began to feel like nothing Chinese children are allowed to do could shock me anymore, I heard about four-year-olds taking part in bungee jumping in the local park.
My first thought was, "Who lets their child take part in an extreme sport?"
However, after talking with the child and seeing how much enjoyment she got out of bungee jumping, I realized, who am I to judge?
Obviously, this is considered a normal, fun recreational sport for youngsters, and why shouldn't it be?
Experiencing such weird and wonderful childhood habits made me take a good hard look at my own childhood.
Having grown up in the UK, health and safety capital of the world, I suddenly realized how many things I was restricted from doing as a kid. So many "dangerous" activities were forbidden to me as a child and the reasoning now seems ridiculous.
In China, a country much more conservative than the UK, precious only children are running around enjoying so many things that parents would be criticized for letting their children do in the West. I say, "Why not?" Kids should be kids and no one is getting hurt. In my mind Chinese children definitely have more fun!