Re: Not sure this is appropriate behavior for a child
Reply #7 - October 12, 2009, 06:58 PM
Just from my life's experiences, I can tell you it is not at all unusual in Latino culture for adults to think it is very, very cute to get kids to do stuff that mimics adult experiences and things like that. That doesn't mean every family does this or likes it, but that it is very common. The least I can say is that no one then turns around and wonders why a lot of boys and girls end up becoming sexually active or parents at early ages especially in lower middle class and poor families.
I have a relative whose mother figured the best solution to keep her daughter out of it was to force her to marry at 15. She had two babies by 18, and was divorced with three children under 6 by the age of 21. And the funny thing is, she was a total geek. She wanted to sit at the library all day and go to college, not hang around with boys, but all her mother could see was "She's a girl - she'll be in the street catting with guys" and *forced* her to marry a man who turned out to be a nightmare. She did end up going to community college for awhile, but having to support the kids made it tough and she had to drop out to go back to work. She met a nice man, they married, had three more kids, he adopted the kids she had with the no good husband, and now they own a house out in the country.
[this space for rent]