This is part of a series on my mother’s experience of parenting in Iraq. Our family lived in Iraq for a couple of years during my childhood. We were the only Australians in the country at the time. My brother and I were roughly the same ages as my children are now. I thought it would be interesting to ask my mother what her memories of parenting were like … and it was.
Part i here. Part ii here. Part iii here.
More of my mother’s words in the next post in the series, this time, some photos.
The last photo is my favorite. Gangsta grandma child on the right, hippie pied piper kid on the left. Dress-up is awesome.
Love the photos. Similar to photos of me and my little brother in the early 1980s. Bossy older sister, happy younger brother toddling around. My mum even cut my hair the same way lol (my hair’s dark though).
What your lovely photos tell me is that childhood is experienced in the same way all over the world i.e children love dressing up, water and animals. It maybe simplistic to say this but it reminds us that children who live in war zones (continual fear) are tragically missing out on this.
yes that is exactly what struck me about these photos -that despite the exotic (to me) location, they are so reminiscent of childhoods everywhere.
That second last photo, it could be your children. Cormac looks so much like your brother in that shot…
I am happy that the war in Iraq is finally over. It has been 9 long years for Americans and their families. We have lost so many soliders for a war that we never should have even been a part of. The U.S. has a thing about trying to fix everyone except their own land. Now maybe we can focus on what is really the issue here. That being our hungry, homeless, uneducated americans.