East vs West: Matters of security

"Your house is not very safe.  Your apartment in KL was much safer."

"Why do you say that, Ma?"

"Aiyaaaa....  KL apartment got security guard, got high walls, got big fence! Just look at your fence!  It's so low even I can hurdle over it!  You should build a higher fence!"

"What for, Ma?"

"So that no robbers can get in!"

"What robbers, Ma?"

It is definitely a Malaysian thing to put iron grilles over your glass windows so that no one can smash their way in, build as high and as sturdy a fence as you can to deter all bad men, install the world's biggest gate and to quadruple lock every single door in your house.

When my parents came to our house, they were astonished to see the fence that surrounded our house was made of (what they thought of as) flimsy wood.  Even worse, Connor was taller than the fence!  None of our windows had any grilles on them either.  To them, we were sitting ducks for anyone who wanted to break in.  How could I be so irresponsible with regards to security when I have their precious grandsons living here?

I explained to them the low crime rate in our tiny village and "...look, every other house here doesn't have grilles and fences either!"  but I don't think I convinced them.  I know how they feel because I felt the very same way when I first came to the UK.

I love seeing our new home through their eyes.  It makes everything new again.