I shared a bunch of posts from our Australia trip last year about the big parts of our trip–where we stayed in the city and Cronulla, visiting Taronga Zoo and Wattamolla Beach–but whenever I tell people about our trip, there’s always one everyday moment that comes to mind. (And yes, I do still talk my parents’ and sister’s ears off about Sydney. Just priming them to move there with me someday :P)
It was a rainy Thursday afternoon in Cronulla, cold for Australian summer (about 70F, lol). We had just spent a couple of hours relaxing at the beach a couple blocks from our apartment, digging in the sand and watching surfers catch the big waves. There’s a nice playground right next to the beach so naturally, we had to stop there to play on our way back. The kids played, the baby napped and Eric and I chatted for a bit.
Suddenly, a wave of teenagers in school uniforms turned a corner and descended on the playground, at least two or three dozen kids. Some of them were my height or taller; they were probably 15 or so.
These kids started playing on the playground like I imagine they do most days. Like, real playing–swinging on the swingset, doing the monkey bars (that many of them were too tall for), sliding down the slides. They were chatting and laughing and just enjoying the day, the same as my kids. Hardly anyone had a phone out.
Where we live, I barely see teenagers out of the house, let alone playing on a playground. In the words of my brother (who is almost 12), “the girls shop… the boys don’t really have anywhere they hang out.” Consumerism and isolation… sounds about right for American teenagers. I don’t know if it was recess time in Cronulla or what, but there’s no recess here for junior high schoolers either.
Every country has its problems (looking at you, Australian housing prices) but wow, if that isn’t what I want for my kids. For them to be kids and for that to not be decidedly un-cool, all the way through their childhoods. For them to live in the protected world of kids and teenagers during that time in their lives, time they will never get back. Australia recently passed a social media ban for kids under 16 that I agree with and think the US and others should copy.
While we’re at it, no serious threat of school shootings would be nice, too. Nothing takes kid out of childhood like realizing that every day you show up at school is a risk to your life. Anyways.
I am fairly well-traveled in Europe, Canada and domestically. And I’ve always found it’s the mundane differences between my life and the lives of people I meet abroad that have the biggest impact on me. It’s not the famous sites, the incredible food, the arduous plane travel or beautiful nature that change you. It’s the little moments that make you wonder, could I live like that? Or make you think about how you see the world (often we’re not aware of the values and ideas that make up our worldview until we witness a different one in action) and how you could see it differently.
I have thought a lot about the teenagers on the playground since our trip. That experience offered me a glimpse of a life, for my kids but also for my teenage self, that is not being slowly funneled into a system and society that I disagree with on many things. I try not to wear rose-tinted glasses when it comes to foreign life, especially after a failed attempt to move abroad, but I do wonder about it. Pretty often these days, with everything going on in Minnesota and the rest of the country right now.
xx Claire