My Daughter Came Home

　　You might think the topic is a little orotund, but ask me, "Where did she come from?" She returned from Germany 'after a year's interval'. She lived in Freiburg alone and learned the German language and how German life was. Her major is German culture.
　　A Japanese old saying tells us that if you love your kids, you should leave them alone in travel. I looked for the same proverb in the dictionary and found this. "Spare the rod and spoil the child." Her life in Germany wasn't always happy, but she didn't give up and survived. I found something different in her from what she used to be a year ago. I realized that the old saying was correct. It was not bad to allow her to live in Germany as the saying goes.

(Vocabulary)
orotund (けなして) (演説・文章などが) 仰々しい [同意] pompous
saying  ことわざ, 格言
as the saying goes  ことわざにあるように, よく言うように
Spare the rod and spoil the child.《諺》 かわいい子には旅をさせよ。／むちを惜しめば子どもを駄目にする。

Comments

[KUMO]

Hi, Klaus

Thank you for your good news. My daughter says, "German people were kind in general." She seems to have had the really good experience in your mother country.

[Klaus]

Doc, hi there after quite some time!

So, your daugther returned home from Germany. Guess you must be a very happy dad!?!

And yes, travelling broadens your horizon and has many benefits, especially if you stay in a foreign country for a longer time. I assume, your daughter must see many things with different eyes now.

As for me, wedding bells will be ringing again. On 3 March (3.3.2011) I will get married (again) at the city office. If you want to find out who it is, please visit my homepage (lots of pictures with "T."). On 12 March will be the wedding party, but with no more than 60 people - so small. Surprise???

[Sarah]

Great topics!

Your saying that you found, "Spare the rod and spoil the child", is quite a bit different from what the Japanese one is, however. What that means is that parents shouldn't feel guilty about spanking their children (physical discipline). It is a very old saying that most parents these days don't follow. The 'rod' is used to spank the child and the saying suggests that if you don't spank your children, they will become spoiled, as in disrespectful, or greedy or all of the other things you DON'T want your child to become. Now days, however, spanking is frowned upon in our society and parents have found different ways of disciplining their children. I can't think of a proverb that states what you are thinking, but the start of this one somewhat applies. "If you love someone, set them free. If they return, they are yours, if not, it was never meant to be." It more applies to love, but setting them free could mean sending your children off to travel.

I just had a daughter of my own last September, my first child. She is the world to me. My husband and I plan on sending her abroad when she's older, because we have seen first hand what the benefits of travel do. They go beyond anything you will learn in a University. Traveling is good for your soul and it enables you to have first hand experiences that are much more valuable than anything you can learn from a big colorful box (the TV).