the little family at Buduburam Refugee Settlement

On New Year's Day we went out to a nearby Ghanaian bar/restaurant. Just before exiting camp a man walked up and said to Dayton, "Taking the little family out?" "Yes."

This probably isn't the best picture - CeCe is pouting because I'm on my way to the airport without her. CeCe never pouts - she's one of the happiest people I know.

I won't pretend to really understand Liberian family dynamics. I did tell Dayton he needs to be nicer to CeCe, but that's my standard there. I never saw a Liberian parent being particularly nice to their children. I don't mean always shouting and beating them (though there's that), but rare is the interaction of communicating. On New Year's Eve when he went to Watch Night at his church, he said he'd leave CeCe behind with me. "But I don't want to be the boring old woman she has to stay with on New Year's Eve. Let her stay out with her friends." "She is a child and she does not complain," he responded. Seriously.

Like I said, I do give him parental advice - though that's mostly because CeCe is a girl and he really doesn't get how our brains work. But at the same time, like I said, CeCe is an extremely happy 10-year-old. She plays well with others, she skips instead of walks places, she's eager to help and please, she's polite and friendly, she adores school and learning, and she sings while working. She doesn't repress happiness. Dayton was right - she wouldn't complain about being stuck with me on New Year's Eve because she's generally happy and loves me. The only thing she complains about is me leaving - but we're all unhappy about that. So if she's such a happy well-adjusted pre-teen - why on earth would I mess with that? I look around at kids in the US and most of the privileged ones whine and complain and sit on their lazy asses are are generally intolerable. I don't agree with the general Western sentiment that children should be in charge of families and their environments. And maybe I do like it a little that with Dayton, I'm the good cop.
When I gave CeCe some Laughing Cow cheese I brought, she just about burst with joy. The girl is like Cinderella - even happy when she's washing dishes. Of course she isn't some perfect little robot - she doesn't do things exactly as Dayton wants exactly when. But I do remind him - she is 10 years old and her own person. And whenever he thinks SHE is stubborn, then he needs to look in a mirror.