Egyptian Parenting illustrated

Written by: Sherif Aly

There is an Egyptian saying that says "ما حك جلدك مثل ظفرك " probably coming from someone who missed a lot of showers and it means "nothing can scratch your back better than your own fingers", so , forget about these 300 page books talking about the Parent-Child issues and let me show you how the Egyptian parents scratched their backs.

Whatever one might say, we all got our share of beating from our parents. Some with sticks, some with belts and some with hmm… even worst things. (talk about walking bare foot just because slippers have too much bad memories for you). Parents say that it is coming from a loving place and that they are beating us to make us better persons.

When I was young I used to beat up other kids, and although it was really fun for me it seemed that other kids weren't enjoying it as much. One day the school called on my parents to put an end to it, they confronted me to know why did I beat on other kids, I said that it is coming from a loving place and that I am trying to make all of them better persons. Although I thought that that was well said, I got some more beating when I went home !!!

Although it seems hard for us as kids to get the logic behind our parents behavior, I got a real insight from one, he said that his parents used to beat him and he turned out fine and that is why he is returning the favor to his kids. Although it was hard to argue with that person (who was a taxi driver wearing his shirt inside out) I decided that he made perfect sense.

It is weird how times change, yesterday I used to be the child who wondered how come he got beaten so often and today I am a married man who in a year or two will have a child who is also going to wonder how come is getting beaten so often.