Kids, Kids, Kids

January 21, 2009
There are adorable babies and young children all over Tel Aviv. Maybe this is so because it is a big city, in contrast to the relatively low density rurality of Chapel Hill, but there are children everywhere. Children are everywhere and there is adult attentiveness of every description—mothers, fathers, grandparents, teachers, caretakers, people on the street or in the park all seem to be playing, interacting, and watching. What is really amazing is the variety of conveyances that people use for children. This technology seems to have changed mightily since we were parents with young children. There are babies in: the arms of mothers, the arms of fathers; on the shoulders of mothers and fathers; backpacks on mothers; backpacks on fathers; frontpacks facing forward on mothers; frontpacks facing backward on mothers; frontpacks facing forward on fathers; frontpacks facing backward on fathers; strollers with big wheels with thick rubber tires; strollers with double small wheels on the front and back, all pushed by grandmothers, grandfathers, and anybody else who can walk and push; strollers big enough to carry babies and groceries or an older child; and the most interesting one of all was a stroller with a running board (with two foot imprints) extending from the frame beneath the baby compartment, so a 3 or 4 year old can stand safely in place to get wheeled along. I am impressed by the number of men, presumably fathers, who are involved in this conveyance. On Shabbat, the park along the Hayarkon River is a sea of people of all ages, from infants to the very old, where all of these conveyances are out in force.