Is this a normal childhood memory in the balkans
Posted by Own-Zucchini-7745@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 37 comments
Basically, when I was a kid, I had a babysitter that was from the balkans. One time when I was a kid like literally five or six or something, and there was nothing to do in the house. He held me over a trashcan by my ankles and threatened to throw me in. It was all in good fun and I laughed about it at the time and still do many many years later.
Is that a normal thing to do in the balkans?
tipoftheiceberg1234@reddit
I wouldn’t say it’s normal but it’s not unheard of. I would never treat a kid like that even jokingly because it’s a humiliating thing to do to them. Physically dangle them over a trashcan. What he did was not right and he should have known better.
It’s good that you’re okay, but just realize that’s not an acceptable way to treat children and that that guy was an asshole.
No-Championship-4632@reddit
Once when I was a teen, a group of other teens threw a Roma kid into a garbage container. They were shouting stuff like "you are drafted in the army now" - "your unit is a tank brigade, you're gonna drive a tank now". Then they closed the lid with him inside and started to push it on the street. Then they shouted "ah fuck enemy opened fire" and started kicking the garbage container - "lucky bastard, you survived, man, don't open the hatch, they might fire again".
Does that answer your question?
QuietQueerRage@reddit
Poor kid...
BloodStarvedLeopard@reddit
Well, was he actually trying to hurt you, or just messing around? I have done similar things to kids I worked with, like in a public setting, preschool and up, lol. "Threatened" to throw them in the recycling, out the window etc., big laughs all around. I never dangled anyone over anything in that way, though, but that sounds less malicious and more reckless.
Own-Zucchini-7745@reddit (OP)
It was 100% good fun and just messing around. He was a bit odd but I seriously doubt he would have harmed me in any way.
Constant_Release255@reddit
He? Was he a student? I've never heard about male babysitter...
treba_dzemper@reddit
Yeah it's a bit reckless but pretty normal stuff here.
Striking-Hedgehog512@reddit
EE not Balkans here, but yeah, met with all kinds of “We’ll sell you to gypsies”, “If you don’t behave Baba Yaga will come and take you and eat you and then you’ll regret it but you’ll be alone and your parents will be happy because you’ve been bad”- the latter scared the shit out of my sibling to a point he developed insomnia and screaming night terrors because our lovely grandmother said the supposedly cannibal witch only comes at night when the child is asleep an good riddance. Poor dude just didn’t eat his dinner or something.
Being dangled over a trash can in good fun sounds lovely. If you haven’t developed deep trauma from your caretakers at home or at summer camps, and didn’t pick up minor (age not volume) booze or cigarette habit, you’re probably fiiiiiine.
Constant_Release255@reddit
Were you very naughty?
GoodXD1@reddit
Yep! My parents used to "threat" giving me to the roma people :)) ( (Romanian here)
Bugatsas11@reddit
Wow I thought this was only a Greek thing.
Benevolent_Crocodile@reddit
Bulgarian too…😂😂😂
latroknak_is@reddit
Hu too. Though my mother had an even better spin on that taking kids away story: she said that i wasnt the bad one, but the dogs (are the bad ones) cause they didnt take me away (yet). She thought its funny and i was squatting on the ground, age 4 with my first existential crisis, shyly looking for the dogs with dread, asking myself why/questions as to what did i do (actually that time i wasnt caught with any mischief) and with a pinch of curiosity and some feeling of giving up/accepting faith
NightZT@reddit
I know that from my grandparents but sell not give
That_North_994@reddit
I remember being a 4yo with my grandma in a tram station. And she said to me "if you don't behave, that gipsy woman will put you in her bag". And the gipsy woman was smiling and saying "yes, come here, I'll put you in my bag" (she was playing the game, too). I think I started crying.
Atsir@reddit
Me too (Serbian)
More_Ad_5142@reddit
Same. I had a nightmare about it, woke up all traumatized and they stopped with that joke. I was 5 or something 😭
GoodXD1@reddit
😭 i feel bad for youu
PureLet5083@reddit
We often throw out neighbors kids into the trash can. He used to fight a lot. Oh nostalgija
Vagelen_Von@reddit
Male babysitter? Are you sure?
vukgav@reddit
Attributing an odd behavior of an individual to their whole ethnicity or geographical region is quite... well... something
treba_dzemper@reddit
No this is like chasing kids around telling them you'll eat their nose or shit like that, just to get giggles out of them. It wasn't an actual threat. We do that with kids all the time here.
vukgav@reddit
Literally everyone everywhere does that, it's not a Balkan thing
Spekuloos_Lover@reddit
Only if you misbehave.
No, but seriously, never happened to me, but I get the notion of the joke.
More_Ad_5142@reddit
Trashcan jokes aren’t common but not very rare either. I was dangled by the ankles quite a bit by my uncle but not in a thrash can setting. It was fun and giggles
treba_dzemper@reddit
Yeah very common but in all honesty it would freak me out when my dad did it to my kids a bit. I mean, I've been there, I know it's shits and giggles and everyone does it all the time, but it's a bit different when you're not the one holding your kids in a "dangerous" kinda way.
silentmarrow@reddit
yes
UnderstandingCool574@reddit
Yeah I always tell my nieces and nephews that I'll throw them in the bin if they don't behave.
atakanberkbrant@reddit
When I was a toddler and I peed my pants, my mom used to hold a lighter up to my b*tt and threaten me by saying, ‘do it again and I’ll light it.’ , or she would hit me with a thin rolling pin/oklava. By the time I got older, she would threaten to hand me over to gypsies when I misbehaved. So probably nothing was wrong with your babysitter, that was about the least she could’ve done.
atakanberkbrant@reddit
Small note: I was never physically abused in the true sense, but it is common habit Balkan mothers to scare children in different ways when they misbehave. If she physically abused you in real way, it's not common at all.
Early-Show2886@reddit
Surely this behavior isn't typical of the Balkans? Such behavior is simply not normal, sorry.
Old-Task-4177@reddit
Idk, it's pretty common where I'm from. It's a joke. And kids are aware it is a joke. There is never any fear that they will actually end up in the trash bin.
Early-Show2886@reddit
hm ok
alecpu@reddit
Yeah don't worry
Unable-Stay-6478@reddit
No, we didn't have babysitters.
Own-Zucchini-7745@reddit (OP)
😂 maybe I wasn’t clear. My babysitter was from the Balkans. I am not. I was wondering if the thing he did was like a normal thing in the Balkans. I still find it quite hilarious but my parents did not
BandAdditional6084@reddit
Yes. Trashcan jokes are always here