Phillip and Rebecca Mefford

The Mefford kids-- Hudson Kerem, Lincoln Umut, Sofia Ezgi. All children, everywhere in the world, are in the midst of a steep learning curve of right and wrong behavior. How is a child’s behavior shaped in this culture? We have seen feeble attempts at manipulation and false threats, as in “Rebecca Teyze will never come visit us again if you don’t stop!” or “if you don’t come home now a dog will come out and eat you;” we have seen religious motivators, “that’s sin!”; we have heard of naughty children getting slapped, though that is less common; we have seen a lot of chocolate used as a pacifier for misbehaving children. As far as positive rewards, badges, stickers, children’s songs and activities like feeding cats and planting trees are used to demonstrate what is right. The most ubiquitous phrase for praising a child is aferin sana! “good for you!” Our methods of “time outs” are a little strange, though intriguing, to our friends and neighbors, and to be hon

To infinity and beyond! Our bedroom is perhaps the most hectic room in our apartment simply because it is the least public. When people come over we close the door and no one sees it, so the need to tidy it isn’t as urgent. It is a place where we sleep, change diapers, dry our laundry, and it is also our “office,” a crazy but necessary combination. The boys room is decisively more exciting...Buzz and Woody, decals of our favorite Toy Story characters, are on the wall. In the daytime the beds double as trampolines or as wrestling matts, both inevitable energy-expenders for male children. The floor is strewn with dirty socks, beloved stuffed animals, and a myriad of children’s books. So that is the least exciting and perhaps least culturally different aspect of our home. We hope you enjoyed the tour…and kusurumuza bakmayi n (excuse any fault) , especially the large pile of yet to be folded laundry on the bed.