School Sleepover

What do you think is an appropriate age for kids to have a sleepover at school?  Is a sleepover at school even appropriate?  As a parent to a young child these are new questions for me to face.  And to be honest I didn't like that I even had to consider it. 

Two weeks ago the Pre-K & Kindergarten classes at my daughters Dutch elementary school had a sleepover at the school.  I didn't mind all of the activities around it - the bbq dinner, the games outside, the morning calisthenics, or the breakfast in the gym - I just didn't like the idea of my 4 yr old sleeping at the school without us.

Picture it, 5 classrooms, 25-29 kids per room, 2 teachers per room, and the kids range from 4-6 years old.  The teachers had to request permits from the city & fire department, and they were asked to stay awake all night to make sure things went well.  Not one thing about it sat right.  We have no problem with our daughter spending the night away, but this situation just seemed weird.  I felt it was such a strange request, why would this event even be organized?

Our daughter handled the news well when we told her she would be sleeping at home that night and would return to the school early in the morning.  But the comments from the parents and teachers were unneeded, as if we were being fearful and making our kid suffer because of it.  Trust me, the only suffering I saw was the way the kids looked the next morning after the sleepover.  (Just imagine a bunch of small children with hangovers, if you need a visual.)

I have no regrets about picking her up at 8PM that night and returning her at 7:30AM the next morning.  I'm glad we stood our ground and didn't give into peer pressure.  Funnily enough, the majority of the parents picking their kids up at 8PM were foreign like ourselves.  I helped clean up the next day and to be honest I only heard good stories, there were no disasters and things went fairly smooth but still, I just don't agree with it.

What do you think, were we being overprotective or is it just weird to have young kids spend the night at the school with just teachers?

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Kermis (Fair)

A popular thing to do in The Netherlands is to visit the "Kermis" (aka Carnival or Fair) when it rolls in to town.  Luckily for me, there's a "kermis" one town over every year at my birthday.  For some reason quite a few years ago I started the tradition of a b-day bbq followed up by a visit to "kermis".  It must have been because of my nieces or the fact years ago we lived in the center of Best and they literally built the "kermis" around our apartment.  Once our own kid came along it made the "kermis" even more special.  We love watching her face as she gazes up at the large carni-rides or is overwhelmed by the endless lights, music, & food.  This year was one of the first years she was old enough to actually go on multiple rides; and we can only expect even more next year.  If she had her way we would have taken her on all of the roller coasters instead of the tea cups and massive slide.  In order to keep her distracted we kept her busy with all of the games.  Who knows how much we all spent but eventually we won her a jump rope, slinky, & toy guitar, she was over the moon.  I'm sure all of you have been to a carnival or fair, so I thought you might be curious what they look like here.  To be honest not much different, except they are often held in the center of town.  I'm used to where I grew up and we had the Strawberry Festival, it was huge and on a lot of land in a town called Plant City.  (Everything in The States seems to be bigger, there's just more land & space to work with.)  The "kermis" here doesn't have cattle competitions or country music concerts like my part of the woods in Florida.  But I wouldn't say I actually miss that, ha-ha!  Like most fairs, you have cotton candy, baked goods, and of course rides & games.  One thing I missed out on this year was the fun house & house of mirrors, I've loved those since I was a kid.  Maybe next year when our nieces can join!  And yes, my Wordless Wednesday was a pic of amazing waffles served at "kermis"!!!  (Funnily enough, I've never been to the huge "kermis" here in Eindhoven.)

 

DWOTD

DWOTD = Dutch Word of the Day, it's a fun website about Dutch words and phrases.  Like so often you hear of things via-via (word of mouth is great marketing), and I found out about this site through a friend at M&T's.  I've lived in the Netherlands long enough to know most of the words and phrases I have seen on the site but it's still interesting to hear someone else's take on the word (so much can be lost in translation).  I hope my family abroad will also appreciate this site!  My parents are always trying to pick up Dutch words here & there... my Dad likes to post things on Facebook in Dutch and my Mom wants to learn words so she can communicate with my daughter.  (Our daughter is 2 1/2 and bi-lingual, but she is still so young she mixes the English & Dutch.)  I also hope my foreign friends living in the Netherlands enjoy this site, it's a nice way to learn words (you have to start somewhere when taking on a new language).  I am fascinated with words.  When I was kid my parents had a "bodybuilding phase" and I was stuck at the gym multiple evenings a week, I would tote my thick red dictionary to the waiting area, plop down on a couch, and read read read.  In elementary & middle school, I was enrolled in ALPHA classes and words were also made to be fun - designing a city and everything had to start with the letter "S" (fun kid challenges).  Now that I am a bi-lingual adult (didn't learn Dutch until I was in my 20's - I'm still learning), the challenges have changed.  Nowadays I am just trying to remember the English word for things I haven't said in a while, it's amazing what you'll forget.  One of the last times I was in The States I wanted whip cream on my coffee and I kept calling it mousse, she looked quite confused but figured it out.  My mother is always having to fill in my sentences, she hears this often, "uh, um, urgh, what's the word I'm looking for... you know that thing, um."  Maybe I should check into an English word of the day site, ha-ha!  As we've all heard in the past, it's important to keep learning and to keep flexing our brains no matter what our age.  I have family members in their 70's & 80's still earning college degrees, will that be you?  Well anyway, I'll keep this post short, just wanted to promote a cool finding!