Dear Sister: Childhood, Cartoons & Growing Up

This one is just me and my two sisters, Izza and Sanya, sitting down to talk about childhood. Not the shiny, edited version, but the messy, lonely, sweet parts that stay with you long after you have grown up. We are all so different: I grew up as an only child, Izza spent her early years in the UAE, and Sanya is an army brat who lost her father very young. Yet in this hour together, we found so many little threads that connect us.

Growing up in a bubble

Izza was born and raised in Abu Dhabi until she moved to Pakistan in 2013. She describes her childhood there as living in a sound, safe bubble. Her family lived in apartments and later in a shared villa. She never had to worry about politics or government officials. “Life was chill,” she says. “I hardly even cared who the president was.” The environment felt secure and insular.

But that bubble had sharp edges. She remembers going downstairs to retrieve a ball and an older girl, an Arab neighbor, confronting her. “What are you doing here? You are not allowed to come into this place.” Izza was so confused. She told the girl she would call her mother, and the girl slapped her across the face. “I was never allowed to play outside after that,” Izza shares. That early experience of discrimination meant her parents kept her very close. The safety came at the cost of freedom.

Coming back to Pakistan was a culture shock

When Izza moved to Pakistan in eighth grade, everything flipped. The kids here were street smart in a way she did not recognize. At first she felt out of place, but soon she was excited. She would leave home before eight in the morning and return late. “I think I am making up for all the time that I missed,” she says, laughing. Her father stayed back in the UAE for work, so the shift was about education and finally being around relatives.

The education system was not as big a shock as she expected. Her school in the UAE was under the Pakistani embassy, so the curriculum was almost the same as the Federal board here. What changed was the social landscape. Suddenly there were relatives everywhere. Adjusting to that took time.

Relatives: a blessing or a curse?

Izza admits she is still settling into having family all around. In the UAE, her family was independent. Here, you have to count on others, and that can be a weight. But she also calls it a huge blessing. “I have had that experience of not having these people around, and the loneliness and challenges we had to face,” she explains. Now she lives closer to a relative and finds it genuinely fun. I know for many people, relatives are a source of stress. So it is beautiful to hear her say her family makes her feel supported and at home.

Losing a parent and finding strength

Sanya was born in 1998 and lost her father to cancer when she was in fourth grade. “That is your childhood right there,” she says softly. Her mother, a housewife at the time, became a wonder woman. Sanya watched her cope with trauma, raise three kids, and face relatives who were not always kind. “My mom was my support. Women are capable of so much more than we think.”

As the youngest, Sanya was extremely pampered. Her brothers and mother treated her like the baby of the house. But she also wishes parents would let kids be a little independent. I related to that so deeply as an only child who was sheltered. Pampering out of love can sometimes hold you back. Sanya says, “At some point you need to let them go a bit, let them experience things on their own.” Still, she knows that every worried phone call from her mother comes from care, and she is grateful.

Sanya also shared a small detail that made me tear up. Her father used to tell her mother, “Your father prayed to Allah for a daughter like you.” That one sentence is now a memory she holds close, a reminder of the love that shaped her even after he was gone.

The small things that stay

We could not talk about childhood without naming the cartoons and snacks that colored it all. Izza and Sanya traded memories of catching frequency for Star Plus shows, watching Hannah Montana and Winx Club, and the thrill of discovering Bratz. Now we sometimes search for old SpongeBob episodes just to feel that quiet comfort.

The food hits differently too. Izza misses the toned down spices of Arabic foods. Sanya notes that KFC and McDonald’s taste different here than abroad, and even within Pakistan, flavors change from city to city. I am not a chips person, but I understand the nostalgia for one specific red packet of french fries flavored chips. These tiny sensory details are what make a childhood vivid.

At the end, we all agreed: enjoy your life as it is right now. I miss the days when my biggest problem was what to eat. Sanya misses the time before responsibilities piled up. So hold on to whatever small joy carried you through. If something makes you happy, do not let anyone tell you it is silly. Keep it in your routine, so you never look back and wonder why you let it go.