In middle-class U.S. families, children are often not regarded as capable of caring for themselves or tending another child until perhaps age 10 (or later in some regions). In the U.K., it is an offense to leave a child under age 14 years without adult supervision (Subbotsky, 1995). However, in many other communities around the world, children begin to take on responsibility for tending other children at age 5-7 (Rogoff et al., 1975; see figure I.I), and in some places even younger children begin to assume this responsibility” (Rogoff, 2003, p. 2). From my epiphany, I have traveled to some new places for learning more about cultural diversity in Vietnam. I came to Sapa which was a small village in a mountain of Northwestern Vietnam. I observed that there were young children under age 9 who were carrying their younger siblings on their backs with baby wraps while they tried to sell some goods to tourists such as baskets of orchids or souvenirs like brocade wallets, hats, and strings. After a long walk, I also noticed that young children under 9 there were trained to do household and caregivers of their younger siblings – they even cook rice and harvest tea leaves. I turned around and asked my tourist guide why those children have to do a lot of things at this age. He responded to me that this is because their parents have to work on farms for a living. Therefore, they trained their children to take responsibility for tending to other children. It became a culture that passes from one generation to the next. Those younger siblings, one day, will adapt to this culture and become like their older siblings.
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