Big Brothers

I was lazy to cook today. So I took Joanne, Joshua and Andrew (my nephew who came for a visit) to McDonald's instead. There's something very appealing about the McDonald's restaurants here. It's not Ronald and friends. It's the big indoor playground that comes with each restaurant.

We got there early. So we could find a place at the playground area easily. Soon, the area was filled with running and screaming kids, including the trio that I brought along. It was a little overcrowded and quite a lot of shoving around.

Then I saw a woman parking next to my car (I could see it from where I was sitting). She caught my attention because she had 5 kids with her. But that was not the main catching thing. There was a boy aged around 10 and he was helping his mum carry his youngest sibling, a toddler.

I watched the family closely. Well, I seldom saw boys that age so attentive to their younger siblings when I was in KL. I saw a lot of girls doing that but never boys. Very intriguing. So I kept watching them.

The 5 kids were very well behaved. They didn't rush to the playground. They sat inside the main dining area in the restaurant and ate their lunch quietly, with the oldest boy making sure his younger siblings get what they wanted. When they finished, he held the youngest one (the one he carried earlier) and took her to the playground.

He didn't dump her and start running around on his own. No, he held her hand and made sure no one trample on his little sister the entire time they were in the playground! That's right, he took her up the steps and slid down the slide with her. Trust me, no one would dare bully his sister.

Impressive. His mother must have done one fantastic job bringing up her brood. Then I remember meeting a Melbournian couple a few years back. They too had a son who was very caring towards younger kids. And then there is Andrew. My nephew whom my 2 kids adored. He doesn't have any younger siblings but he takes on the role of big brother so easily.

Maybe the way people raise their kids here are little different from the way people do in Malaysia. In Malaysia, girls are typically expected to be caring towards their younger siblings but boys can escape from doing that.

Well, I certainly like the way here better. No wonder Western men tend to take on the role of fatherhood more readily when the time comes.