Perspectives

Anne has been playing with two different neighbor girls a lot this summer while school is out. 

Similarities... Both girls live in houses which were originally the same footprint as ours, but both have had basements added, bringing them up to three bedrooms.  Both of the girls live with two parents and one sibling.  Both girls are a couple years older than Anne.  Both girls' fathers work two jobs - one has a painting business by day and DJ's by night; the other is a real estate appraiser by day and works in a restaurant by night.  Both mothers work as well - one as a housecleaner, the other as an elementary school teacher.  Both girls were born in the Seattle area and are American citizens.  Both girls, like Anne, love to play outside, and probably have too much screen time (also like Anne.)  Both girls have mentioned wanting to live in larger houses.

Differences... The first girl also has grandparents living in her home.  She shares a room with her older sister.  She is fully bilingual.  The second girl has her own room and the quintessential American pet - the family dog.

Perspectives... The second girl (the one with her own room, and the dog) has told Anne on numerous occasions that she thinks Anne's house is too small, and she wants to know when Anne is going to get her own bedroom.  The first girl (the one who shares with her sister and has grandparents in the basement) has told Anne she is the luckiest kid, because Anne's bed is at the foot of her parents' bed.  This friend says she doesn't like sharing a room with her sister and she gets scared in the dark, because her bed is too close to the door.  So she usually goes to sleep with her parents.  Anne gets to do that every night because of our furniture arrangements and home business necessities.

Interesting to see the cultural differences in the two families represented in those two comments about sleep arrangements.  As you may have begun to guess from my descriptions, the first girl is of European heritage, and the second girl is of Central American heritage.  Families sleep differently around the world, and what seems normal to one group seems odd to another...  I love Anne and Lazarus being able to play outside with neighbors just like I did growing up (somewhat of an American rarity these days), and I love that they get to meet people who are like and unlike themselves in a variety of ways.