Parents as Teachers Magazine Blog

Is there any ballet more loved around Christmas time than the Nutcracker Suite by Tchaikovsky? Where I live (Austria), if you are a good parent you take your kid to see it at least once. Expose them to the magic of classical music and dance, the charming story of the Nutcracker.

It is the traditional thing to do. A magical experience passed down from generation to generation.

In case you, like I, are not up to speed on the story, it goes like this:

It is set in Western Europe in the 1800′s. Hans Stahlbaum, doctor and mayor, loves to throw large holiday gatherings for friends and family. Fritz and Clara, his children, anxiously await the guests. It is snowing pleasantly. Late as usual, Clara’s godfather Herr Drosselmeyer finally arrives. He delights everyone with his wonderful mechanical dolls.

Make one batch vanilla pudding.
One batch chocolate pudding.
Pour both puddings into one large bowl, in several layers.
Chill.

Serving tip: (carefully) plop the pudding out of the large bowl onto a plate, place in center of table, give each guest one spoon.

This is fun to watch at birthday parties, but also enlivens a regular supper.

It looked like rain, heavy sky. I had plenty of time to get to the funeral, except then I overshot my turnoff and still I would have made it in time, but then I asked a young man for directions, a kid parking his moped in front of a dance school in the town, lighting up the first cigarette of the million he would smoke in his life, and he told me I was headed the wrong way, I should turn around, drive a while then ask someone else the way to the cemetery, because he wasn’t sure himself.

Alpha, my wife, called me at work on Friday and told me Gamma, our youngest daughter, had been expelled from kindergarten earlier that day. Right after lunch: nap time. Gamma loves daycare, she loves the kids and the action and the food. She just doesn’t like anyone telling her when to sleep.

So there she was, amongst about 6 professional (and that means professionally-trained and schooled, here in Austria they have separate schools for kindergarten teachers, with apprenticeship programs) child-care specialists, not a bit sleepy at nap time and this is the worst part: giving 30 other little kids the idea that there might be funner things to do than nap right now. The teachers are all trying to talk Gamma into sleeping, the other kids are starting to sit up and look around, so they move Gamma into the lunch room, (solitary confinement) where she starts doing her Liza Minelli impersonation, belting out songs at the top of her voice, happy as a clam.

In her book, Diary of a Mother, Christine Hohlbaum — a former career woman now raising two young children — delves deep into the day-to-day chaos of family life and comes up with some gems.

I was a successful career woman. I owned expensive, dry-clean-only clothing. My nails were often manicured, and I found pleasure in sleeping, a lot. I used to get my hair cut every six weeks. My car was always clean, my mirrors at home sparkled, and I never, never bought Cheerios. God, how my life has changed.

Diary of a Mother is a collection of brief short stories, just the right length for a busy parent to finish before being interrupted by someone creaming “Mamaaaa!”