Thanks to my mother, I was raised to have a morbid imagination. When I was a child, she often talked about death as warning, as an unavoidable matter of fact. Little Debbie's mom down the block might say, 'Honey, look both ways before crossing the street.' My mother's version: 'You don't look, you get smash flat like sand dab.' (Sand dabs were the cheap fish we bought live in the market, distinguished in my mind by their two eyes affixed on one side of their woebegone cartoon faces.) The warnings grew worse, depending on the danger at hand. Sex education, for example, consisted of the following advice: 'Don't ever let boy kiss you. You do, you can't stop. Then you have baby. You put baby in garbage can. Police find you, put you in jail, then you life over, better just kill youself. Amy Tan
About This Quote

The things that children are exposed to from a young age have a profound effect on them as adults. For example, the story of the woman who was told not to let a man kiss her as a child and then experienced a violent sexual assault left her traumatized for life. The story of Debbie's mother down the block is a cautionary tale about not looking both ways before crossing the street. When you have everything going for you, it is easy to be careless with your safety.

But if you were given that same advice as a child, it would also be wise to heed those words. Today, thanks to technology and even more sophisticated criminals, there are countless dangers that children face every day. It is important for parents to be aware of those dangers and warn their children about them from an early age.

Source: The Opposite Of Fate: Memories Of A Writing Life

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