Playing House

I was sitting inside of my house and a bunch of the neighborhood children were running around outside. Eventually they came up onto my porch and were shouting and making all sorts of noise. At first it was just general screaming and I wasn’t paying much attention, then I heard one of them ask, “Who will feed the pig?” This was strange because the child’s family didn’t own a pig. “Pikin (child), I will go farm. You go feed dat pig.” I realized they were playing house! “Should I make rice?” The pretend mother asked her children. It was such an incredible moment to discover that children all over the world take part in playing house, but that the realization of the game could be so different. The small variations that culture has created were fascinating to me. “Sweep for there!” Mother directed. “Then you go feed pig and go for farm.” The same concept, but such a different version of it! Instead of father needing his briefcase for work and the mother going to the office, the mother was going to the farm. Instead of making the bed the children had to feed the pig. Instead of pasta they were preparing rice. It was such an insight to the culture and the lives of these children. In revealing the events in their own lives, the game took on a rather sad turn of events. Then men came home, and instead of them welcoming the mother or greeting the children, the boys were police officers on a violent streak. “Police!” they shouted, “surrender!” There was some struggling and fake crying by the children. “I kill your woman.” An officer said. It was rather shocking and incredibly saddening to realize that this was the life these young children knew. That at ages 5 and 8 they knew about that type of violence and would replicate it in a game of house. That they had clearly been exposed to things that an American child playing house would never think to include in the game. It was eye-opening to witness and provided so much information on life here. It revealed the differences between the cultures so aptly and made me reflect on the aspects that led to the variations in the game. I was so happy to have that glimpse into their lives!