I live in Cambodia going on about 4 years now. I almost said the exact same thing in my post, that the 6 year olds in my alley act pretty much like little adult

I live in Cambodia going on about 4 years now. I almost said the exact same thing in my post, that the 6 year olds in my alley act pretty much like little adults. You see them buying things from the market, helping their parents, socializing with kids twice their age, etc. They almost never fight or cry, and if they do there's no parent rushing over to console them unless it's something serious. But, parents here are still very compassionate and work extremely hard toward giving their children a good future. One of my favorite stories actually comes from my wife. Early on in our relationship she told me that as a kid her favorite thing to do was to pretend to be a cook. I assumed this meant that she had some toy cookware, something like the equivalent of a kid's tea party. But, as I inquired more, she explained that her play cooking involved sneaking off with her mom's knives and pans, buying a few vegetables from nearby sellers, starting a fire in one of those little firepots that are common here, and sometimes even going to the local pond to catch a fish! It's no wonder that she's a good cook now and also I think it's part of the reason she's been extremely successful professionally despite a lot of adversity.