Happy Father's Day!

While it's Father's Day in the West today, I thought I'd share an observation on how Argentines dote on their kids. Parents anywhere love their children, but parents here are certainly not afraid to show/flaunt it!

As I understand it, inflation here is creeping towards the "out-of-control" direction yet again and the middle class is shrinking fast. A typical Chinese parent in this case would be saving for college tuition at breakneck speed, and even without the threat of an impending economic "reboot" every 10 years, I don't know any Chinese parents that buy designer clothes for their toddlers. Are we frugal or prudent?

I'm sure I'm stereotyping, but my guess of the Argetine psyche is, doomsday fears are no reason to stop spoiling your children with an occasional trip to a pelotero (children's playhouse with a pool of colorful balls to dive into) and dressing them in adorable upscale children's clothes for a special occasion.

Of all the countries I've been to so far, Argentina has the highest density of children's play facilities and clothing stores by far - it's a great place to grow up! Imagine peloteros almost as common as cafes (albeit in a nice part of town) and children's clothing labels occupying a fourth of all clothing stores in a mall - not the case in Asia or the U.S., right?

Andreas, Charlie, Ewan, Seb - doesn't this look like a great place to bounce around in for a few hours?