I don’t know how to exactly describe what a screwed up kid means. Different people have different perspectives of what screwed up means. I have been an observer all my life, when we had social gatherings at the embassy; I used to listen to seniors conversing about other people’s kids.
It’s been more than a two decades, growing up in different parts of the world, I have seen many people complain about how screwed others kids were. When a kid grows up listening to all the mistakes that normal kids do, you don’t feel like repeating their mistakes again. Listening to those conversation about how a person should be helped me shaped my attitude as an adult.
I was a normal brat. It all changed when I had a heated conversation, about how I did not develop a “down to earth” attitude. I lost debating, it was somewhere in Saudi Arabia.Sometimes I wonder, I would be someone else if I had that attitude with me. People either love the fact that I don’t have an attitude problem or they try to take advantage of the fact that I don’t. Either ways, I thank my parents and the then H.E to Saudi Arabia for teaching me, what down to earth meant.
English is not my first language; it still sucks that I can’t read my own “Matri Bhasa” as quickly as the rest . My parents never cared about what language we used to communicate at home. I always preferred to speak in Nepali and only when I had to prove a point to someone I used English. Most parents encourage their children to talk in English; broken Nepali will be the new language of Nepal soon. Who wants to give up their hereditary like that?
There is a gap. I don’t know how many diplomatic kids feel the same way as I did. I did not study in an American School. But I always felt left out. Studying outside Nepal and growing up in an Embassy was already a big thing for me, but studying in an American School was more like getting an iPhone, which seemed lucrative but I didn’t dare to ask. There were groups in social gatherings, a) those that used Nepli Bhasa b) those that used Broken Nepali c) those that used their English accent only.
But at the end of the day, I can’t classify screwing up. Some of you even thing, I am screwed up,But hey! I worked my way to the ground and I would prefer to stay here. I choose to be a nerd obsessed with my studies that I gave up “friends”. I never let peer pressure affect me, that’s another reason why I stayed focused all throughout.
Give your kid examples. Teach them “Nepali Bhasa”, no matter where you go, it’s their right to know their parents language. I can’t say much about how to raise kids but I am pretty sure my parents did a wonderful job raising me and my brother. Thank you dad and mom, I am never going to be a screwed up kid that they always talked about. They are wonderful parents.
