My Nanny Weekend

    

     My nephew and niece are at an age where they are practicing their independence. At ages eight and six respectively, they have just recently been introduced to the concept of SLEEPOVERS.

     I remember the time too, when my cousins and I were at their age, we too had regular sleepovers at each other's houses during summer vacation. We had one week to raid, pillage and conquer the chosen castle, uh, I mean camp out at the designated cousin's house before we were returned to our respective parents at my grandmother's house the following week.

     I think giving kids this type of experience, even at the tender ages of six and eight is a very good idea. It teaches kids how to plan ahead, make choices, get along with other people, adjust to living conditions and house rules that they are not accustomed to, take responsibility and take care and be respectful of their and other people's belongings.

     Although what I can only recall now is how much fun we had as kids in those sleepovers with my cousins, I did not realize how prepared their houses had to be for such an invasion of minimum five kids per week of summer vacation. It's only now when my mom and I babysit for my nephew and niece do I realize what a well-stocked pantry and a very creative "baby sitting activity list" can do for your and your little guests' sanity and relaxation.  :-)

     Doing the "learn to eat what is on your plate" sermon, though a very good lesson to teach kids while they are young is really not the best way to deal with picky eaters. And while a hotdog and fried chicken smörgåsbord would be the most painless way to get them to eat for the duration of their stay with you, I do not think it's very sensible from a nutritional and healthy-eating habit point of view. Though they would have their moments, these two are beginning to open up their palates to new taste experiences whenever they are here at home.

     So, my dilemma this week was how to keep these two kids occupied so I can finish chores around the house. Well, after breakfast and a little time for cartoons on the television, I called the two over and gave them each a pad of paper, and watercolor pencils. To keep the mess at the minimum, I just told them that those are colored pencils and the small brush in the kit was just put there by mistake... :-P

    
     Then, I told them that I for the next hour or so, they would be competing with each other in making a storybook, with a story that they each made up. I expected my niece, being younger, would protest as she is just beginning to spell and draw, but she gamely rose to the challenge like her brother! Good job, sweetie!

     I just gave them key words to jump start that hour of productive housework, uh, I mean creative fun. I touched on things that they loved to do and toys that they played with to make into a story, and within five minutes, I was told that that they already had their story ideas down pat. So, after laying down the ground rules (share the pencils, no fighting and poking each other in the eye with the pencils, and make the most beautiful storybook that you can), I left them on their own.

     I really did not know what to expect and was on the alert for someone giving up the task because of boredom or frustration. Surprisingly, these two kids kept at it until they finished their storybooks, and right on the hour at that!

     The kids came up with simple and imaginative stories that were fun to decipher and read. As to the winner, well I gave them both a prize for creativity, imagination, and best of all, peace and quiet co-existence for an hour all in one weekend! :-)

    

      Cheers everyone!

©CherWriter 2011.01.30

Mise en Place: Strawberry Mash Shakes are the Life!

~Fresh Baguio Strawberries! Yum! ~




       One of the things I love starting the month of December is the abundance of fruit available. One of my favorites are fresh Baguio strawberries. Yum!

     I love these little morsels of sweetness, either dipped in sugar or on its own. Yummy!

     When we were younger, each December, and during Holy week, we would make the annual trek to Baguio with our parents, grandparents, and even household help. Imagine a convoy of five to six cars, packed to capacity with passengers, and double the amount of luggage in the car trunk. :D That's around 25-30 people back then! :D

     All of us would then stay in one house, one room per family. :D Breakfast would either be fried rice and adobo or longganisa from the market for the adults. For the kids, we were each given our tools of:

One bowl or glass (whichever you could manage)

One fork

Fresh strawberries

Kellogg's Cornflakes

Chilled Fresh Milk

Sugar

     Then comes the assembly:

1. With your bowl and fork at the ready, choose the best looking, most plump, red, ripe, juicy strawberries in a bowl (about 10 pcs, making sure to get only what you can finish  :D ).
2. Mash these to your desired consistency (lazy mash, or super fine, pulverized strawberry mash) into the bowl with the fork, making sure to "corner" the strawberry against the bowl or glass so that it does not escape. :D
3. Sprinkle sugar on to the strawberries.
4. Add cold milk.
5. Top with cornflakes.
6. Enjoy by the spoonful, or tip your glasses and judge who gets the best strawberry milk moustache.

     The recipe above is one my cousins and I share as part of our childhood memory favorites!

     We weren't exactly given a license to play with our food but rather, even as kids, we were given the freedom to create, and learn about food other than just something that you get frozen from supermarket shelves that you stuff in your mouth. It's pretty much like what my cousin-in-law is teaching her daughter, as they spend some bonding time together.

     Doing little family "rituals" as this also reinforce your idea of a particular comfort food because there is an actual skill or process tied into the food itself, that for me, rounds out the whole experience. From this little activity our parents devised for us kids arose our food preference personality. There were comparisons as to who made the best tasting strawberry milk? Are chunky shakes better than super smooth ones? How pink could you get your own creation? What is the correct strawberry : milk : cornflake ratio? Is your strawberry mash shake shaken, not stirred? Are bananas in the mix a way to show off? ;-)

     All in all, as a kid, making your own strawberry mash shake was a good way to get you out of a grumpy mood in the morning. It was a healthy, filling, breakfast item made with no food processors or blenders. You made it yourself, so it was always extra special. Hey, no one even complained that it was too pink a drink in the morning! :D

     Cheers!

©CherWriter 2011.01.03

Blanket Security

     Let me introduce you to LINUS VAN PELT.

For those of you born in the 90s onwards, Linus van Pelt is a character in the Peanuts comic strip created in 1950 by the late Charles M. Schulz.

     He, along with the other well-known children in the series, Charlie Brown, Sally Brown,  Lucy van Pelt, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, Rerun, Pigpen, and Charlie Brown's dog Snoopy, made up the cast of the popular comic strip that appeared until February 13, 2000, a day after Mr. Schulz' death.(1)

    
     Of all the Peanuts cast of characters, he is my favorite because of our similarities, primarily in growing up with a security blanket.

     My mom and my aunts and uncles can attest to how I loved my flannel security blankets (my baby blankets, 1 pink and blue with diamond patterns, and 1 yellow with a green, blue and white middle stripe :D). I just referred to them as kumot (pronounced "coo-mot"; Tagalog word for blanket). I would have it with me constantly. It was my favorite plaything because to my young mind, it could morph into a gazillion shapes and forms.

     Among its favorite uses, it was my first pick for a bedtime companion. At night I would do this little ritual where I would fold the blanket up and roll it, pretty much like a pinwheel cookie and it became my version of a plush or stuffed toy. It had this smooth, comforting, warm feel to them that made bedtime so much more pleasant. It felt I was playing until sleep finally took hold.     

     An anecdote from my mom about those blankets was that they "mysteriously" found its way into luggage when we were going on out of town trips, despite having been purposely left it in the closets. Now, we can't have that, can we? I always made sure no one, not even my favorite blanket, got left behind. Hehehe.

     I felt bad growing up at some point because my aunts and uncles ganged up on me to "malign" and scare me into giving up my favorite blankets. Imagine??? They just don't know my blankets and what we've been through! Hehehe. Well, my mom, giving in to their advise, either gave away or (I hope not!) threw away or burned the blankets one day because despite a fervent search, they mysteriously just disappeared! They did not even get to be so threadbare beyond recognition! :-(  How could they when an aunt of mine still held on to her childhood pillow! At that time, I felt like screaming, "Well! My kumot is better than your crummy pillow! Ha!"  (but of course, I did not have the heart to shout that to my aunt. ♥)

     But, since my blankets were no more, there was nothing I could do. I just had to trudge on through life without them. To my non-blanket wielding relatives (hehehe), this was a rite of passage. I had to learn that life goes on in the face of a loss of a stable force in life. I had to learn to make do. I had to adapt.

     I will just say though that I think I turned out pretty much okay after my beloved blankets have gone. Sometimes I wonder though if I'd be the same person I have become if my blankets were still here. Maybe they'd be framed somewhere in the house, pretty much like a baby picture would.

     There are other similarities between Linus and myself but I will reserve that for another post. Meanwhile I leave you with the philosopher Linus' words of wisdom:

©CherWriter 2010.12.08