Can Aiden come out and play?

This past week I had the same conversation with two totally different, unconnected people.  Both of them (obviously feeling comfortable enough with the relationship we've developed) asked me why foreigners often won't let their children play with Cambodian kids.

Both of these conversations developed after a brief discussion of Aiden's ability to speak several Khmer words already.  When Aiden greets people (in Khmer) and then tells them thank you (often for no reason except to get them to giggle at him...such a ham!) we are often asked how old he is and then told how amazing it is that he can speak Khmer SO clearly.  

Every afternoon when Aiden gets up from his nap he goes out to play in the neighborhood.  Chris and I are usually studying so Mao, our nanny takes him and they go and play for a couple of hours.  Aiden usually comes back covered in dirt and extremely happy....and after getting a snack and some water he cries to go out again.

However, many times foreign children are kept separate from the Khmer in their neighborhoods.  Every family has their own reasons, and there are places in our neighborhood that I don't want Aiden to go, things I would prefer him to not eat, and things that he does need to be protected from.  But, overall we have come here to live with and love the Khmer.  We want Aiden to be as comfortable with the Khmer as he can be.  So far his personality allows for this (he is MUCH more like his daddy than his momma in this regard!) and so as long as he seems comfortable and is safe, we want him to play with our neighbors  and their children.

In both conversations I had a hard time giving a good response.  One of them asked me if foreigners were afraid that their children would get diseases and other bad things if they played with the Khmer kids, and the other person simply said that he knew that foreigners didn't want their kids to grow up acting like the Khmer so they don't let their kids play with them.  

Indeed these are two very real struggles!  Because of the lack of many vaccinations and poor hygiene there are many health problems that we have to be aware of.  And it is true also that Khmer children play different.  We by no means have this figured out, and every afternoon as Aiden heads out the door different scenarios run through my head of things that could go wrong and ultimately I have to pray for him, for his protection both physically and spiritually, and pray for myself to no live in fear. 

He is in God's hands and my faith in that helps me watch him toddle out the door each day.

Isn't this what every mom out there faces every single day, whether at home in or a foreign land....