playground without rules…

I think back to my childhood with very fond memories. School days seemed to be spent in the playground with occasional breaks to learn the basic skills of reading writing and math. At primary school we would wolf down our packed lunch or snack (outdoors) before racing off to dig in the sandpit, jump on the trampoline, play amongst the gnarled roots of the cyprus trees, swing on the monkey bars, hang from branches, kick a ball, tumble on the horizontal bars, play tag, roller skate, play mini tennis or four-square, throw quoits, jump rope, play elastics/stockings, leapfrog the bollards, climb knotted ropes… basically act like kids. Less energetic pursuits involved cats cradle, jacks/knuckles or marbles. The whole school population took breaks together. The playground was alive and full of energy. This energy was contagious. All were engaged somehow.

I look at my kids today and feel sad. They eat lunch indoors, in the cafeteria. There is no play time after lunch. One 20 minute recess is provided per day. This is spent at the teacher's discretion and does not necessarily occur at the same time other classes have their break. Recess is spent outside, dependent upon weather conditions. Recess activities are regulated and there are restrictions on more boisterous activities. At least one child spends the major part of recess in time out. My oldest child tells me they are about to ban kids from playing football as they don't want children to tackle one another. It all seems very static and boring to me. 

Paul showed me this video of a stance taken in New Zealand (originally part of a university study) to remove onerous and stifling rules from the playground. The Principal who adopted this approach speaks about benefits here. The resulting impacts are brilliant. Not only are the children becoming more engaged and creative, there have been the added effects of increased camaraderie, less vandalism, no need for time outs, and reduced bullying. The children are also better equipped to learn as they burn up their excess energy through play. Love it! 

It reminded me of the playground scene in the first episode of the Seven Up series. Apparently, post-war Europe was well aware of the benefits of Adventure Play. See this documentary for a totally convincing case for free play and its benefits (from the 1960s perhaps?). 

For the sake of comparison, here is the American 'take' on removing rules in the  playground.

Under the sea...

We attended our last preschool concert last night! 

Despite a meltdown on the way, our little one just shone on stage... a born performer!

The theme for the show was 'Under the Sea' with all songs having an oceanic theme. The whole 'Cow Palace' (multipurpose hall) was decorated with fish and sea creatures made by the preschool students. I love that each class chose a different type of fish to create. 

We had a tense few moments as Paul was caught at work... but managed to slip into the audience just before Mietta made it on stage. One very happy little girl. 

Cake Walk

The boys participated in a 'Cake Walk' for their Cub Scout Pack. This involved making a cake, decorating it and then offering it up for a silent auction. Luc made (another) Carrot Cake. A relatively easy cake to make, the only difficult task is to grate carrots to measure two cups - enough to try the patience of a nine-year-old... for the second time in a week! He frosted it with a cream-cheese frosting and decorated it with letters and carrots he had made from another batch of fondant I had made. 

A busy schedule for Nic resulted in me making his cake - the fastest cooking cake I could find: the good old Swiss Roll. All Nic had to do was to spread it with freshly whipped cream, spread over some fresh raspberries, roll it up and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Easy. 

When at the function, each child became obsessed with a particular cake: Luc coveted a Pineapple-Upside-Down cake, Nic desperately wanted a cake covered with Marines in battle and Mietta was convinced she was going to get the much-admired (and highest bid) Campfire cake. The Campfire cake was SO very appropriate with a couple of marshmallows roasting over a burning log fire. It was truly breath-taking. 

We had two major meltdowns once it was discovered that only Luc had been successful in winning his choice of cake. Warren & Sarah, who had helped their son Jackson with his brilliant Campfire cake, stepped in and very graciously offered to make Mietta her VERY OWN Campfire Cake. 

We had one VERY happy young lady the next day when we collected her cake. 

Still very impressive, this cake was not half as spectacular as the cake sold in the auction. The marshmallows hadn't (yet) been toasted on the cake above, and the fire wasn't quite as roaring (flames were made from melted butterscotch and Lifesaver candy). 
Nic was appeased with the promise of some plastic Marine figurines to decorate his own (future) USMC cake. 

Our hungry little caterpillar turns 4!

I LOVE Summer birthday parties. These are so much easier to deal with than Winter parties that so often have to occur indoors in our climate. 

Mietta celebrated her birthday with a Hungry Caterpillar birthday party. Just 24 hours prior, it was going to be a tea party... but then a change of plans as I didn't think the little boys would cope so well... and besides, we had a hard time finding old teacups and saucers at the local thrift shops. I had always secretly wanted to do a Hungry Caterpillar Party - and I figured this would be my last chance! 

Our cupcakes easily transitioned into a caterpillar cake. Eric Carle made planning the rest of a Caterpillar party menu foolproof - as the whole menu is listed in his book and is very straightforward: apples, oranges, plums, pears, strawberries, watermelon, pizza, salami, cherry pie... easy! 

Once Mietta saw her cake, she was sold on the idea - PHEW!

I made some pizza dough and made pesto and tomato and pepperoni pizzas, bought some salami, swiss cheese, cornichons (for pickles) and a readymade cherry pie. 

 A quick trip to our local International Market helped to fill our Goodie Bags with exotic treats: puffed rice, mango jelly, rice crackers, milk caramels, ginger chews... and of course, Lollypops (from the book). 

puppy impact

The kids LOVE their dog!
Rascal has become a real focus for our family... in more ways than one. 
The boys have been using Rascal as a theme for just about EVERYTHING they write about at school. Puppy books are the most often borrowed from the library. We seem to be watching more of 'Wishbone', 'Underdog' and the 'Buddies' movie series...  

One of Luc's school projects required he make a collage of an 'adventure'. Of course, Luc chose the subject of Rascal's disappearance - as Rascal chased deer through the forest early one morning. The collage and short story detailed Luc's subsequent upsetting recovery mission as he first loses his dog, then himself. Rascal returned home first, and then a tearful, scratched but ultimately relieved Luc. 

Back to school...

School is back! 
Mietta starts her final year at preschool. Luc commences 3rd grade, while Nic begins 1st grade. 

Rascal

This blog's essence was life-altering events. And, boy... have we had a few of those over the years. It would seem appropriate therefore, to tackle the blog-post-drought with news of a new addition to our family... Rascal.

The kids have wanted a dog for a very long time, and have been trying all sorts of ways to try and convince me that we need one. I have been very anti-pet as I knew who would end up looking after the pet after the initial excitement wore off. Yes. Me. Besides, the kids CANNOT keep their toys well enough together to prevent being a risk for an animal.

However, Luc surprised me this Summer, with the diligence and responsibility he exhibited while dog-sitting some neighbor's dogs. I was most impressed.

Paul informed Luc that he should attempt to wear me down with constant requests for a dog - not all the time, just once per day... but EVERY day without fail. Out of frustration one day, I told Luc he could have a dog if he could ride his bike. Luc has been very slow to warm to bike-riding. Upon hearing this *obviously* flippant comment, Luc dragged his bike from the garage and attacked bike-riding with abandon!

My bluff had been called... so I did what any person in my position would do - I began stalling. As my stalling tactics began to be met by a growing angst, I began researching, to try and determine the best-breed-fit for our family. Paul and I both grew up with working dogs - various combinations of Border Collies, Kelpies, Blue Heelers and other *smart* dogs. Neither of us could abide the thought of a *dumb* dog... but also wondered how-on-earth we could keep a working dog happy in a house setting.

I did some online owner-dog-match surveys - and one came up with the best match as an Australian Shepherd. Of course, the name appealed. I found out a little more, and they did seem ideal... and particularly more so when Paul suggested a Beagle - and I uncovered how full of 'doggy-odor' Beagles can be, and how they like to howl and to dig. Uh ah.

I did still have an issue with size. The smart working dogs from Paul's and my childhood - were OUTSIDE dogs. I have always had somewhat of an aversion to dogs living indoors. The weather we experience, living where we do, demands that dogs live INDOORS. Impasse.

...Then, I found out there were miniature versions of Australian Shepherds, AND there were breeders in Virginia! I wrote to a few and they were all very helpful with their comments and suggestions. We thought we could at least *look* at some to see how big they actually were, and assess the breed's temperament for ourselves.

We visited Circle A Farm, north of Culpeper, and met Alice and her lovely, friendly and good-looking dogs. We were all smitten. We were lucky enough to see some just-born puppies in a litter that was arriving during our visit. Nic and Mietta were quite intrigued with these 'squeaky puppies'. Luc became quite attached to a young 4 month-old puppy named Rascal. Alice had originally intended to keep Rascal for breeding, but had since decided to sell as she had obtained another sire from a different bloodline.

As we were there on an investigative mission only, and had no intention of buying immediately, Alice suggested we could take Rascal home for a week, to see if he might be a good fit. We told her we would think about it as we extracted Rascal from Luc's embrace.

Much debate ensued on the drive home, and for the rest of Sunday. We could see the benefits of a 'mostly' house-trained young pup and decided we would give it a try... Hence, Rascal came to stay with us on Monday. After two days of his lovely disposition and nature... seeing Luc bond... and appreciating how smart Rascal is, we decided he'd be a keeper.

Hence, Rascal is now part of our family. Mietta now has the 'little brother' she wanted - without any of the drama that would result if she actually had a little brother (Mietta cannot abide any children younger than herself - she refers to them as 'stinky babies').

find those eggs!

Another egg hunt in our garden! Great fun 

The dogwoods are in bloom. These are the state tree for Virginia and are truly stunning. 

An absence of (authentic) Hot Cross Buns in this country saw me desperate enough to make my very first batch. Although time-consuming, these were well worth the effort. Yum! 

Baby 911

One of those embarrassing stories that really has to be told... at some two years ago, my embarrassment has subsided... a little.

Let me set the scene...

We were preparing for son Nic's fourth birthday party. Husband Paul took the boys out to the supermarket to pick up some items. A bout of wet weather left our garage a little wet so Paul left the garage door open on his way out to let the garage dry out a little. The local scout troupe was collecting food items for a Thanksgiving food pantry. Recent rain prevented me from putting the food out overnight and I forgot to put the items out earlier in the morning, so was a little late in setting these out on our front step for collection. Our local squirrels had gone mad eating our ornamental pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns... destroying them in the process. We had decided to leave the pumpkins out for the squirrels to finish off - it seemed they needed them more than we did. Paul rang me while I was cooking to ask if I needed any more items. He hung up and I handed the phone to Little Miss 14-month Mietta - largely to detach her vice grip from my legs and provide her a little distraction. Every parent I know does this - kids love phones! I finished what I was doing, extracted the phone from toddler, and went onto my next task...

A little while later, the doorbell rang. I answered the door to find a local Deputy from the Sheriff's department standing there. My immediate thought was that he was collecting for a Thanksgiving charity. He told me that someone had put in an emergency call to 911. I looked at him blankly. He asked if everything was fine. I told him "Everything is OK. No one had made a call to.... oh..." What was the possibility of a 14 month old hitting 9, 1, 1, in sequence then hitting the call button?!?! "It is possible that Mietta made the call?" I could feel a brilliant shade of red starting to creep onto my face... I told him the unlikely scenario of what I thought might have happened. He looked at me somewhat suspiciously and said "You'd be surprised how often it happens. Are you SURE you are all are OK?" Feeling totally embarrassed, I really wanted him to go away, but he was very insistent on establishing that we were OK. I was about to invite him in to have a look around when he described the scenario he'd envisaged to me...

When he first arrived, the Deputy noticed the garage door open, and thought that it appeared as if someone had made a quick escape. He then saw the mangled pumpkins... that he assumed had been smashed during a physical fracas / fight. Arriving at our front door step, he observed the bag of groceries: obviously dropped to the ground during the melee, before the perpetrator made their escape... or perhaps they were still inside...?!

From this perspective, I had to agree that the scene did look a little suspicious. Mortally embarrassed, I explained the situation and the Deputy left us to stay calm and carry on...

Reflections

I have been asking Luc to submit an artwork each year for the Reflections PTA Art Competition. This is a nation wide competition, organized - in the first instance - by each school's PTA. This year, as Nic was to start Kindergarten, I asked him to complete an artwork too. 
The theme for this year was "Diversity". I found this to be a great prompt to open the discussion about diversity - of thought, belief, race, gender...
Luc's overall theme was to 'Celebrate Diversity' - and he used a party 'look' to illustrate his concept. Nic's love for pasta was instrumental in his artwork's concept. He loved that it could all look so different, yet be made of the same stuff! Nic had some fun arranging his letters - and taking numerous photos on Mummy's camera (safely attached to a tripod!). I cropped and arranged all his letters in several layouts, and he chose his preferred submission. 

POSTSCRIPT: 
Nic's submission won first place at his school, County and District. His artwork received an Honorable Mention at the State level. 

Language

Mietta, at two, would have close to a thousand words in her vocabulary and speaks in sentences with correct pronouns, sentence structure and tense. Having big brothers, and wanting her say, certainly has contributed here. Not being parents that want to *push* their children to lofty parental expectations, I was intrigued after hearing of one such parent's two-year-old that knew her alphabet. I tested Mietta on her alphabet on her bedroom wall. "This is an M, Mietta. Mmmmm for Mmmietta". Mietta responds "M" "What letter is this Mietta?", "S", I was impressed. "This one?" "T", I thought perhaps I should mix it up a bit. "This one?", "A. K. D. X. Z...." I was quite astounded that Mietta knows almost the entire alphabet! She had some trouble with 'W' - naming it 'U'. I must try her on an alphabet that differs from the one in her bedroom - to see if it is not purely memory she is relying upon.

I am constantly amazed by what our children know. There is a tendency to believe that if we haven't told them, then they wont know. Nic is fascinated by words and often asks us the meaning of a word. He then tries to work it into a sentence. He asked Paul what 'addicted' meant and after an explanation was able to use it in "So Mummy is addicted to coffee.... and Luc is addicted to pens!" (for Luc's love of drawing). He asked me what 'pathetic' meant the other day. I tried to explain how it meant a kind of 'sad'. He responded with "I want to make Mietta pathetic" I then had to explain how it was a 'different' type of sad... and, really, he needn't aim to make his sister sad.