Azat Posted December 19, 2003 Report Share Posted December 19, 2003 I grew up in Armenia and I really feel sorry for all the kids that have their childhood in the States especially Los Angels. I have little cousins and friends who have little kids and I see these kids who think having fun is surfing the web and playing games on xbox or Nintendo. As a kid I use to be allowed to go out of home and play with friends till late night and no one worried that something really dangerous would happen to their kid out of their own yards. I have lots of feelings about this and would love to hear what you guys think about growing up in a different country vs. the US where kids are so limited in their activities and freedoms outside of the back yard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armat Posted December 19, 2003 Report Share Posted December 19, 2003 Yeahh Azat great memories.Remember playing "bagh@votsi"Hide and seek? I used to hide under my favorite neighber's grape vines and eat my heart's content and raid the soviet farms with friends.It is funny that we actually were pround of stealing.It was like a hey we got this much fruit for free. Anyway I grew up near Karmir Blour and spend many great days watching horses and among other advantures-too may to list.In short there was not a single week that something was not going on... I agree with you on childhood here and that is why I let my kids be kids... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormig Posted December 19, 2003 Report Share Posted December 19, 2003 Well, it shouldn't be just the U.S. Sure, you have deranged people like Michael Jackson, but then you also have the Soham thing that was on recently. I didn't grow up in the U.S., but I wasn't always allowed to go out, especially when it got just a bit cold, because I was bound to get sick. <_< In my case it backfired and I am now crazy about snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accelerated Posted December 20, 2003 Report Share Posted December 20, 2003 I grew up in Armenia and I really feel sorry for all the kids that have their childhood in the States especially Los Angels. Yeah, same here. Grew-up in Armenia till I was 11.5, then moved here and lived in a block of flats with a number of other migrant families from Eastern Europe and we still managed to have a good time runnin around the yards untill well into the evenings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ED Posted December 20, 2003 Report Share Posted December 20, 2003 I just remembered about paxkvotsi, I use to convince my neighbors daughter, Ashxen, and we would hide for hours till her mother started to look for her, well the game had finished for a long time and everyone involved was sound asleep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sip Posted December 20, 2003 Report Share Posted December 20, 2003 I would like to take this opportunity to point out that kids are potentially interacting with a LOT more people these days ... so just because they are home surfing, or playing xbox-live doesn't mean they are safe (or safer than on streets). It also doesn't mean they are interacting less with other people or that they are having less or more fun. It's just that times-are-a-changin. Unfortunately, a lot of parents don't have the necessary understanding to grasp what it is exactly that their kids are up to due to the technology gap. And that is the true danger. After all, what possible harm could a kid sitting around a computer in his room be in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sip Posted December 20, 2003 Report Share Posted December 20, 2003 Oh and I am not talking about "abduction" and "child abuse" or any of the classical violent crimes we are used to ... I am talking about far more sinister, deeper rooted intellectual stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nvard Posted December 25, 2003 Report Share Posted December 25, 2003 ehhhh, I grew up in Russia But still I remember my summers in Armenia.Every summer I used to spend the whole days playing in the yards with my cousins, in my good old beloved Kirovakan(Vanadzor) Truly, Soviet Armenia was like Heaven.Noone can convince me it wasn't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
America-Hye Posted December 25, 2003 Report Share Posted December 25, 2003 Azat, Do not characterize the US by describing the situation in LOUSE ANGELES (per the late Cain, a San Francisco journalist). Outside of LA, kids enjoy playing outside. You live in a VERY sick society there, a place where men marry absolutely beautiful women but find to their dismay that the children they have are very ugly because their wives beauty was created by a plastic surgeon's knife. LA is also a place that creates Michael Jackson types who turn thier backs on what they are. Here is a black man who desperately wants to be a white woman and has used his EXTREME wealth to attempt to become one. Personally, I don't think that Jackson molested that kid. Mark Geragos is MUCH TOO smart to have taken a case that he was sure to lose. LA is a place where handsome football quarterbacks jump on their male roomates between their cheerleader girlfiends. You live in SODOM AND GOMORRAH, Azat. The whole US is not anything like LA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THOTH Posted December 25, 2003 Report Share Posted December 25, 2003 LA is a place where handsome football quarterbacks jump on their male roomates between their cheerleader girlfiends. Funny post A-H - here and the earlier bit - M Jackson wanting to be a white women! LOL ( hey - being very weird is no crime - specially if you are rich...and he is certianly koo koo - don't know about the rest - if he is criminal...etc)...And yeah - where I live kids (like my own) play outside and visit their friends down the street and such - without worry (pretty much) - so things arent so bad. And regarding the quote above - must you always make it so personal A-H? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
America-Hye Posted December 25, 2003 Report Share Posted December 25, 2003 Winston, I think that most people view places they have lived through their OWN experiences there. I live in a place now that has a very distorted reputation for the general public, a reputation which is not at all like the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THOTH Posted December 25, 2003 Report Share Posted December 25, 2003 Winston, I think that most people view places they have lived through their OWN experiences there. I live in a place now that has a very distorted reputation for the general public, a reputation which is not at all like the real thing. OK - however I'm not sure what you are saying about LA is entirely true. When I lived there - and folks (from back East or wherever) would ask me what LA is like - well my response was always - Its all true. Yes - everything you have ever heard abotu LA - good, bad, contradictory or what have you - its all true. Thats how I feel about LA! So how was he BTW - your football friend? LOL Do you miss him? You've certainly done your share in enhancing/conforming LA's rep - no? And is it so bad...I mean all of it? LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THOTH Posted December 25, 2003 Report Share Posted December 25, 2003 Oh - and I also used to suggest that folks read Bukowski - if they really wanted to know what LA was like - LOL...and I certainly lived soem of that - though not quite - LOL - but I always did enjoy the seamier side.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azat Posted December 25, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 25, 2003 I agree that LA, NY, Chicago and few of the other cities are not the example cities that we should look at, but I also spent 2 years in Jersey in a very upscale town of about 45,000 and I did not see many kids play outside. Same for Jackson Miss. In Yerevan, a city of over a million when I grew up there we were outside past 9-10 PM and never close to anywhere around the house, but sometimes blocks(4,6,10) away and never would a parent panic that something bad might happen to their child. It really was different. I can't tell you how great it was, but those who have lived that childhood know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THOTH Posted December 25, 2003 Report Share Posted December 25, 2003 Azat - I certainly grew up like that here in the States - I mean you wouldnt beleive theplaces we went by bike or wandered off too on our own - at pretty young ages...etc...and my kids have some/much of this..somewhat tempered of course....damn terrorists! (must be eh? LOL)..really though - in many places - like where we live - and we are pretty close to DC - it really isnt so bad. yeah you have to keep good track - but they can be out and about - even on their own - and you really don't have to get all paniky. I'm not discounting that there aren't crazies out there and such and that worries are legit - but sometimes I think folks see stuff on the news and such and just go a little overboard. I feel this way about travel alerts and such too. I'll be the first to go someplace where everyone (Americans mostly) is/are afraid to go because of various supposed threats and such - keeps the crowds away...and statistically speaking - there are much more riskier behaviors etc practivcesd by people all of the time - its just a matter of awareness/perception etc. Wimps I say...all.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
America-Hye Posted December 25, 2003 Report Share Posted December 25, 2003 Winston, My football friend has been married for some time now and has three beautiful children. As he is an odar, he married an odar, two white bread American Protestants, but his mother was 1/2 from Georgian nobility from Tiflis. I unfortunately, married one of my own kind (Armenian) a woman who has been married total of three times and has insured that she has no children. The odar harousts like my friend and his wife who are from old money are very different than the nouveau riche Armenians. My ex's family were from the Armenian elite of Beirut but still act like they just made their money yesterday . That is why I have to look for young chicks to marry in my old age, o that I can have some kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.