Just the kids
By: Rebecca Mabry
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Ten observations about Amish children from author Rebecca Mabry:
1. Amish children wear clothes patterned after their parents. Even infants and toddlers are dressed in tiny replicas of the women's dresses and the men's pants and suspenders. Baby girls wear white crocheted bonnets or the white organdy covers like their mothers and big sisters.
2. Amish children speak Pennsylvania Dutch as their first language; they learn to read and write German in two-week summer schools. English is spoken in the Amish parochial schools.
3. Most Amish parents follow the adage, "Spare the rod, spoil the child," and spank for misbehavior. The slip of a cuss word likely leads to a taste of soap.
4. Children do not participate in sports leagues, but they are eager to play softball, volleyball or basketball with siblings and neighbors.
5. Lots of Amish teens age 16 and up congregate on Saturday nights at the Amish community center on the south edge of Arthur to play volleyball. At times, 175 teens have shown up to play at 11 or 12 nets. Parents are chaperones. In the summer, teens will gather for softball on Sunday afternoons. Another group of 150 or more sometimes forms smaller groups for softball or volleyball on other evenings at a schoolhouse or parents' homes. They also plan "worker bees," to help someone in need weed a garden or other chores, and then play volleyball and have a snack afterward.
6. In most homes, Amish teens 13 to 15 are not allowed to run with their friends and would not be allowed to go out on Saturdays. Teenagers do not start dating until they are 16.
7. Amish children do not frequent movies, concerts, ballgames, skating rinks or swimming pools. They do socialize with families and neighbors at sings and picnics, family reunions, weddings, funerals and other gatherings. It is unusual for Amish parents to hire a baby sitter – the children go along.
8. Amish teens can be baptized, take instruction and join the church at about the age of 16. Many parents then give the child his or her own horse and buggy.
9. After children leave school at eighth grade and begin working, they often give their paychecks to their parents until they marry or turn 21. The parents will give them a small allowance and bank the remainder until the child marries, when most parents help with the purchase of land, a house and/or starting a business.
10. When there is a death in the community, the Amish youths 16 and over will show up the evening before the funeral to sing hymns at the home where the funeral will be. As many as 300 to 500 "young folk" have shown up to sing; sometimes, the teens do not even know the deceased.