I didn?t make the decision to raise my daughter in Nepal lightly. But the opportunities it presented far outweighed any challenges I could think of: I could do research for my PhD and spend more time with my daughter, Miriam, and she could have a happier childhood, growing up in a country that loves children and gives them room to actually be children. All that proved to be true: Nepal is a very special place.
But as parents, we don?t?or can?t?always see all the potential consequences of our actions. When our kids are young, we think we know everything about their world, and it?s all too easy to forget that they see things differently than we do.
For me, the true impact of that big decision only hit me when we were back home, visiting family in Germany three years after we moved. My father had invited us over for dinner. We got there a bit early, so when we arrived, my dad was still busy preparing potato pancakes in the kitchen. It was a nice, uneventful visit. But on the drive back to where we were staying that night, my six-year-old daughter couldn?t stop giggling. When I asked her what was up, she said, ?He cooked. He is a man, and he cooked. That is so funny. Isn?t he ashamed"? Photo: Eva Wieners
I probed further and, to my horror, discovered that Miriam also thought women couldn?t drive motorbikes, girls had to get married as soon as possible, and men should not have to clean anything. Still in shock, I asked, ?Why would you think something like that" Who tol...