Kids here are well spoiled. It's insanity, I'm telling you. I walk through the mall and I've never seen so many tantrums! The legs of small children turn to jello when they can't have something they want, so you see them splayed out flat on the ground kicking, screaming, and refusing to walk. They also run through public places at break neck speed, climb on top of whatever furniture they can find, and hit their nannies. I'm not exaggerating in the least. Because the conniptions are so bad, and I almost think people won't believe me when I tell them about it, I just really want to secretly video one of the episodes which I've nicknamed "The Tiny Emirati Fit." I can't video them for my ever present fear of getting arrested in this country. Oh, really quick. Sidebar. Segue. Or whatever they're called. Seriously that is honestly my biggest fear that I'll get arrested here. I don't know why, but it's all I think about. I wanted to spit out a piece of gum on the street last week because that's what I'd do in my country, but I didn't because I was sure that some cop watching a hidden camera on the street would come and arrest me and it would be like that one show "Locked Up Abroad, Middle East Edition."
So last night I witnessed the most awful hysterical outburst that I've seen since I arrived. (You can easily see 2 or 3 a day).
I'm walking back up to my room from the hotel lobby and I see this kid of about 7 years screaming at the tip top of his lungs and tearing at the bottom of his mother's abaya so hard I literally think he will rip it to shreds. He is pulling so hard that it halts her walking and she can't really ward him off because she's holding two arms-full of shopping bags. He starts punching and kicking at her legs and screaming something in Arabic. The family maid is a few paces behind and she's also carrying a few shopping bags as well as a baby of about 8 or 9 months who is also wailing. The maid attempts to pull the 7 year old out of the grip he has on the abaya and away from his mother. So he gets raging mad that the maid is tugging at him that he spins around and swings at her with a full fist but he hits the face of the baby in her arms instead! The piercing scream of the small child is what makes me realize that I've actually stopped walking and I'm frozen in my steps. After I check that my mouth is closed, I start to slowly walk toward the elevator. Did that just happen?? I don't know what the boy wanted. I will never know.
It's not that children don't have fits back home. They most certainly do. Some of them are right on par with this one. It's the frequency and the intensity here that's bothersome. I've never witnessed SO MANY. It could be specially loathesome to anyone who witnesses it, anyone who has to hear it, or anyone who doesn't have any children of their own so as to be more sympathetic. And even though this mother seemed pretty calm and not aggravated or embarrassed by the primate behavior her child was displaying, I'm sure underneath her cool countenance she was a bit peeved as well. However, I must say, it's particularly disturbing to me because this child, and 30 other children just like him with surly and irascible dispositions, will be in my classroom in 2 weeks.....Bring it on....
So last night I witnessed the most awful hysterical outburst that I've seen since I arrived. (You can easily see 2 or 3 a day).
I'm walking back up to my room from the hotel lobby and I see this kid of about 7 years screaming at the tip top of his lungs and tearing at the bottom of his mother's abaya so hard I literally think he will rip it to shreds. He is pulling so hard that it halts her walking and she can't really ward him off because she's holding two arms-full of shopping bags. He starts punching and kicking at her legs and screaming something in Arabic. The family maid is a few paces behind and she's also carrying a few shopping bags as well as a baby of about 8 or 9 months who is also wailing. The maid attempts to pull the 7 year old out of the grip he has on the abaya and away from his mother. So he gets raging mad that the maid is tugging at him that he spins around and swings at her with a full fist but he hits the face of the baby in her arms instead! The piercing scream of the small child is what makes me realize that I've actually stopped walking and I'm frozen in my steps. After I check that my mouth is closed, I start to slowly walk toward the elevator. Did that just happen?? I don't know what the boy wanted. I will never know.
It's not that children don't have fits back home. They most certainly do. Some of them are right on par with this one. It's the frequency and the intensity here that's bothersome. I've never witnessed SO MANY. It could be specially loathesome to anyone who witnesses it, anyone who has to hear it, or anyone who doesn't have any children of their own so as to be more sympathetic. And even though this mother seemed pretty calm and not aggravated or embarrassed by the primate behavior her child was displaying, I'm sure underneath her cool countenance she was a bit peeved as well. However, I must say, it's particularly disturbing to me because this child, and 30 other children just like him with surly and irascible dispositions, will be in my classroom in 2 weeks.....Bring it on....
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