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**trettegeani** · 09-21-2012, 01:39 PM

Quote[/b] ]In Asia, parents are responsible for their children forever and children are responsible for the parents forever.

The bonds of this most relationship can never be cut. The word for children in Thai is "luk", for child is "dek". In our spoken language, you are luk to any aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather or any elder you respect. Until the day your parents have both passed away and all your elders too, you can always hold the status as someone's luk! Same for being a dek, as long as there is someone older than you, you are always dek in relations with that person, even if you are 50 or 60. I think by the time you get to 70, you rightfully earn the status of an elder and can't be called dek anymore, but then sometimes by that age you regain all the joys and freedom of childhood, that it's okay to be lively and childlike.

Following DiChanMay's observations (in her topic "Moving to Thailand") about how stressful life is becoming for children in the US and relating her story to my own children's situation, I happened to come upon a book by Neil Postman "The Disappearance of Childhood" as well. This had me thinking about what childhood meant in Thailand. Tickles me that it is picked up here in an unrelated topic.

09-21-2012, 01:39 PM	#9
trettegeani Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 466 Senior Member	Quote[/b] ]In Asia, parents are responsible for their children forever and children are responsible for the parents forever. The bonds of this most relationship can never be cut. The word for children in Thai is "luk", for child is "dek". In our spoken language, you are luk to any aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather or any elder you respect. Until the day your parents have both passed away and all your elders too, you can always hold the status as someone's luk! Same for being a dek, as long as there is someone older than you, you are always dek in relations with that person, even if you are 50 or 60. I think by the time you get to 70, you rightfully earn the status of an elder and can't be called dek anymore, but then sometimes by that age you regain all the joys and freedom of childhood, that it's okay to be lively and childlike. Following DiChanMay's observations (in her topic "Moving to Thailand") about how stressful life is becoming for children in the US and relating her story to my own children's situation, I happened to come upon a book by Neil Postman "The Disappearance of Childhood" as well. This had me thinking about what childhood meant in Thailand. Tickles me that it is picked up here in an unrelated topic.
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