Good-bye, Red Fish!

Young children use play not only to discover and explore the world around them, but to help to understand the world that they inhabit.  That is why some games may vary by area and time, but some remain constant.  Children always play house and taking care of baby.  Children also play puppy.  This is also why children also play death.  In all the years that I have been working with young children, the game has never varied.  A child is lying still on the ground, and the cry goes up - "She's dead!".  Immediately the other children spring into action.  They seize whatever medical tools are handy (blocks, tinker toys, pancake turners, etc.) and go to work on the dead person.  In a minute or two it happens - she is alive.  After much rejoicing, the child dies again and is revived again.  Death is a difficult concept for many adults to wrap their head around, and it is especially confusing for young children who believe that Santa is real and tomorrow happens after nap.  The whole concept of what happens and how and where the person went is very confusing.  My neighbor told me that for several months after her husband died, one of the grandchildren brought a picture in a frame to her and asked her to, "Let Poppa out".  I was actually glad that my cat, Wilbur, died before my father did so that my daughter, who was five at the time, had some basis for understanding what had happened to Grandpa.

As a teacher of young children, I have held my share of guinea pig funerals.  Occasionally a child has had an experience with a family funeral will help to direct the event.  One time when we were going to the playground with a shovel and a guinea pig wrapped in a receiving blanket (liberated from the baby room) in a shoe box, the children stopped to show Fluffy to the office workers along the corridor.  That must have been viewing hours.

Several days ago the three year old's red fish died.  To help the children with the process, the teacher held a funeral.  Since the weather was not cooperating, the teacher relied on a traditional burial at sea for Red Fish.  The children gathered around the toilet and each one said good-bye to the fish.  Since music is traditional at a funeral, the children chose to sing a favorite song - "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas".  When the funeral was over, Thomas said to his teachers, "I bet God is going to say,'Hey, where did that fish come from?' ". 

Funny story?  Yes, we laughed and laughed.  I wish I could have been there for the funeral. Yet, more than just a cute story, it is an important for the step for the children to take in gaining understanding and mastery of their world.  The teacher could have waited and snuck the fish out of the bowl when the children were at lunch to avoid the subject.  Instead, she chose to do what teachers do - seize the opportunity to help the children.  Good for her!

Someone's in the Kitchen With Tools!

Young children are fascinated by tools and mechanical objects.  They are curious about what these objects are, what they do, and how they can manipulate them.  A small child can spend a long period of time turning wheels or bouncing springs while he observes they way that they respond to his touch.  One activity that can give children experience with tools is cooking.  There are a number of tools that even a young child can use safely.  A whisk can be used to beat scrambled eggs or cake batter.  A rubber spatula can scrape a bowl.  A dough cutter can be used to cut bread dough into rolls, and everyone loves to cut out cookies.  (Cookie cutters are also good for painting!)  Measuring cups and spoons come in lots of shapes and sizes.  Potato mashers can be used for smashing potatoes (put the hot potatoes in a bowl to avoid contact with the hot pan).  Actually, potato mashers are fun for painting, also, but that is probably a blog for another day.

As children grow older, the tools that they use can become more complex.  Many nursery school children have turned the crank to run cooked apples through a food mill during the fall.  My grandson, who has just turned eleven, makes the pasta for his family in their Atlas pasta maker (a great addition to any kitchen).  He also makes lasagna, including a sauce free one for his sister.   One of my cooking projects many years ago was chocolate cookies that were cooked in a waffle iron.  All of the children helped to mix the batter, but most of the children wandered off quickly when we began to bake the cookies.  One little guy, who was three or four, was fascinated by the project.  I let him put the batter into the waffle iron, close the lid, and open the lid when they were done (for safety, I covered his hand with mine, although I let him do the work.  That way, if a hand should hit the hot iron, it would be mine.)  This boy was usually zooming around the room from one item to another, but his interest in the waffle iron lasted for almost an hour.  He was spellbound by the waffle iron and proud that he could manipulate it to make cookies.

One of my favorite kitchen tools is an apple corer-peeler-slicer.  I have used it for a number of years to make apple dumplings, dried apples, and pies.  When my granddaughter was three, she would stand on a chair at the counter to help me cook.  When I was slicing apples to make apple butter, she watched closely while I sliced the first three apples.  She then decided that it was time to take over the job.  I had to push the apples onto the peeler, but she sliced six pounds of apples.  She was developing self-help skills, observing handles and gears as they worked, watching as the tension spring moved the peeling blade to fit the apple, and adding to her vocabulary. 

Chocolate Waffle Drops

1 cup granulated sugar                                              1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs                                                                        1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups flour                                                         1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder                                        1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon                                 powdered sugar

Cream granulated sugar and butter till fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.  Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and cinnamon; stir into creamed mixture.  Stir in nuts.  (Mixture will be stiff)  Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on preheated waffle baker; bake about 1 1/2 minutes.  Cool on rack.  Sift powdered sugar over (another great job for a child!).  Makes about 48.

Happy Halloween!

As a child, I loved Halloween.  Get dressed up, get lots of candy - what's not to love? We made our own costumes out of old clothes, paper bags, and anything else that we could find.  Each Halloween, my mother made big sugar cookies with each child's name on one to give out to trick or treaters.  When the neighborhood got too big to know all of the children, she made cupcakes with jack o'lantern faces made out of candy corn.  The best part was going out after dark.  Because it was the late 50's, we got to go by ourselves with a few friends.  The  road across the street from my house was a curving road that was lined with houses where our friends lived.  The road actually ran through a grouping of homes, through some land that had not been built up yet and into another group of houses.  Along the wooded stretch of road was the Frog Pond, which was one of our favorite places.  It was not really a pond; it was a swampy place with some open water.  In the summer we caught frogs there and in the winter we spent the day skating.  On Halloween night it was dark and spooky with - best of all - bats flying overhead.  Our wild times consisted of yelling "boo" at each other and screaming, but they were great times.

When my children were young, they dressed up and we walked them around the neighborhood.  They usually wore costumes that were made at home, and they charged from one house to another.  Gone were the days of cupcakes, popcorn balls, and molasses cookies that were made by mothers in the neighborhood.  Candy bars, nickels, and pencils were the treats.  When they got home they counted their loot and compared notes.  It was not yet time to check treats for booby traps, although it might have been a good idea.  When my oldest child was a toddler, I discovered that the bag of candy that she was helping to hand out had a bite on the side of each piece that went through the paper and the chocolate and I wondered if I should check my children's bags for used candy.  Even though I was not dressed up and receiving treats, I loved walking through the dark with all of the children.

Now I spend my Halloween evenings staying at home and handing out treats.  It is a time that I look forward to every year.  The children change as families move into and out of the neighborhood or as children become too old to trick or treat, but every year there are new princesses and fairies to admire and new ghosts and goblins to make me scream in fright.  There are young children who are not sure what they are doing, and the 7 or 8 year old pros who have trick or treating down to a science.  (Knock on the door, yell "Trick or Treat" while opening the stash bag, insert the treat, call "Thank You!" while closing the treat bag and heading down the steps to the next house.  A pro can do this all in 45 seconds or less!)  I have tried wearing my rubber dinosaur nose to answer the door, but some children were afraid of me.

By the time Halloween is over and I turn out the light, I am ready to put my feet up and relax until bedtime.  I have had fun with the children who come to may door, but I still feel the tug of that dark night waiting for me to outside and play.  Maybe next year I can borrow a child to come with me.