Ears pierced, by Makenna Goodrich

It is said that a child develops the culture in which it is submerged in and by exiting the United States it has become more prevalent to me, the differences in parenting styles when comparing Spain and the US. Walking around the streets of Seville you can see children playing recklessly in the streets with minimal supervision. This, however, is viewed as a normal occurrence as the streets are not only viewed as a passageway for cars, but also a huge playground. I remember when I had first arrived in Seville, I was walking around at midnight and I noticed that children were still walking around the streets with their parents and babies were being pushed in their elaborate prams at such a late hour. This shocked me because when I was a child we had a set bedtime of 10:00. Spanish children are definitely granted more freedom than American children. For example, one time I saw a child running all by himself in front of a store and I wondered where the parent was. Then, all of a sudden the mother came running as the child had decided to use the bathroom on a nearby tree. The mother was fuming as the little boy had just pulled down his pants and relieved himself on the tree. Resultantly, the mother spanked the little boy and he cried. Last week, our host sister gave birth to a new baby, her name is Gabriella and she is the most adorable and pudgy baby I have ever laid eyes on. I was very surprised when I came home from London after she was born to see that a two-day-old infant already had her ears pierced! Evidently, it is an option for the mother to have the baby's ears pierced when they are first born so that they won’t have to experience the pain of getting their ears pierced later on. Nonetheless, while Spanish children are granted more independence and freedom, Spanish parents still love and want the best for their children, as all parents do.