Book Week at Dulwich

All week long, our school has been celebrating 'Book Week'. Lots of parents volunteering to read, authors Cindy Savage and Neil Griffiths came in to talk about their books, a story-writing competition and the grand finale - 'Dress up as your favorite book character' on Friday! Book Week is an amazing way to encourage young readers, and to introduce parents to the immense variety of children's books that are available today. The Book Fair stocks favorites from my childhood - evergreen Enid Blyton and cherished classics like Anne of Green Gables and Oliver Twist - as well as the contemporary Harry Potter, Magic Tree House and How to Train Your Dragon series. Books have always been my weakness, and I am never able to resist buying a couple whenever the opportunity presents itself - this year, I got Little Women, which was missing from my collection, and a couple of Classic Starts for Manasi, who is growing to be quite the reader herself!

Dress up day was unquestionably the highlight of the week! Of course, deciding what costume to wear caused much bickering and squabbling in our little household. I'm quite sure my idea was the best, not to mention, the easiest - braid Manasi's hair, put her in an Indian dress, hand her a pot - voila, Shanti from Jungle Book! Ajey was holding out for one of the Disney fairy characters - preferably Tinker Bell! Manasi hated both our ideas - she was leaning towards Cruella DeVille, but lost interest after I told her that there was no way she was coloring half her hair white! Alice and Dorothy, apparently can only be blonde, so they were out, and so was Hermione! Jasmine and Mulan, though black-haired, are too fancy! The whole thing was threatening to end in tears, when I found an old dog-eared copy of Grimms Fairy Tales - of course, Little Red Riding Hood!

Like everything else, for costumes, this is China, you're in luck - you head to the costume maker with a picture of anything under the sun, and get your costume custom made! Here in Suzhou, the costume maker runs his business from a one room workshop, in a dingy back alley close to the glamorous Wedding Street - yes, the same place I bought my beautiful qipao a few weeks ago!! Anyone who needed a costume for Book Week ordered from here, and he had several beautiful costumes ready and waiting! For Manasi's costume, all we really needed was the red cape with the hood - but the picture we had showed a beautiful blue and white striped skirt, with a white blouse and blue waistcoat - so Manasi wouldn't settle for anything less than that!

Little Red Riding Hood

Friday morning began with a crisis - the basket that Red Riding Hood was supposed to carry was nowhere to be found! I suspect Manasi took it outside to collect flowers or leaves and then forgot it somewhere, but I held my peace and ended up emptying my sewing basket for her to carry as a prop! Disaster averted! Oh the problems we have! Bus drop-off was fun, seeing all the kids still fresh in their costumes! Of course, there were tears for the few who hadn't planned to dress up! The school even had a parade for the costumes - in the theatre, each class was called up on stage, and the children talked about their costumes! There were quite a few Harry Potters and Hermiones, and Red Riding Hood, Dorothy and Alice were also quite popular! Some of the costumes were really elaborate - one boy had gone so far as to get a Tintin haircut especially for the day! The teachers were all dressed up to - the standout costumes were Horton, Captain Hook and the librarian dressed as Cruella - yes, she had a wig with half white, half black hair!

Egyptian Day

It was all really fun - getting the costume made - with this tailor, your imagination is pretty much the limit! They can make everything and anything - it's almost a little unreal! I still wish for simpler times though, when dressing up meant scrounging through your closet to find something suitable, and then embellishing it at home to make the best costume ever! Manasi's school had Egyptian Day only about a month after we started - they have a ton of dress up days here, makes it real hard to keep up! At that time I had no clue where to get an Egyptian costume for Manasi, and I didn't know anyone who could have taken me either - so we just winged it! One of my kurtas, a shiny belt, dangling earrings and some over-the-top eye makeup - Manasi was as Egyptian as could be! And we had so much fun deciding what she was going to wear! All that's gone now that we know the costume maker!!

Anyway, Spring is almost here - tantalizingly beautiful sunny days, and then torrential rain! Can't decide if I should turn on the air, or leave the heat on! For me, the best way to enjoy any kind of weather is as always, with a book or two! So, in honor of Book Week, Happy Reading to you all!!

Bringing up Generation 'I'

As every generation discovers in time, the hardest job ever is to be a parent. When you're kids, nothing a parent does seems to make sense - it's only when you're on the other side of the fence, when you catch yourself acting exactly like your parents did, making rules and laying down the law - that's when you call your parents and say "Thanks for all the tough decisions you took, thanks for all the bad tempered words you put up with, thanks for loving me no matter what - now please, please help me with my kids!" The truth of the matter is that once we become parents, every decision, every thought is concerned with what's best for the kids - and yes, through all the passionate declarations of 'I hate you' and 'You're the meanest' and 'This is sooo unfair' - there's the hope that one day when they have children of their own, they will understand (as we did) the all-encompassing love only a parent can have!

So why 'I'? Well, Incredible for one! The world today is not what it used to be - today's kids face astonishing pressures and challenges - the weight of the world is literally on their shoulders - and in the headlong rush to perfection, it is becoming harder to step back and be just a kid! As for kids of expat parents like us, the additional stress of having to start over every few years, while dealing with a new culture, and more often than not, a new language! Third culture kids is a relatively new term, but is an apt description for so many kids today - striving to assimilate their parent's culture and their own identity into a coherent unique personality! Incredible? Why, yes!

Also, 'I' for Indulged - every parent in living memory has wanted their kids to have everything that they didn't have when growing up. Be it dance or music lessons, a new bicycle or simply, the freedom to play outside. I look around me today, and I see parents for whom money is no longer an issue. We can afford almost everything our children could possibly desire, we love our kids, and we shower them with gifts! Not to mention the grandparent factor - when I was a kid, I expected nothing from my grandparents other than a bedtime story and undivided attention. Today, Manasi has to only mention that she likes a particular doll or movie, and as sure as the sun will rise, one of her grandparents will buy it for her. I've given up trying to explain that it is not that particular toy that she really cares about but only the thrill of its acquisition! Indulged? Over-indulged, I would say!

The 'I' generation - I for for all the IPads, IPods, IPhones and all gadgets which have brought the Internet to our fingertips! Everything is online, everyone is online - but I'm a paranoid parent - there are cyber dangers lurking behind seemingly innocent corners.  I find myself reeling before this onslaught of technology - struggling to find a balance between protecting my daughter and allowing her to be tech-savvy! 'Keeping up with the Joneses' takes on a whole new dimension - of course, I want my daughter to be cool - but at what cost? Do I really want to give her unsupervised Internet time to chat with her friends? Do I really want her to search the App Store for new games? It's not that that I don't trust her - I do - it's the Internet I don't trust!

The Internet 'I' brings up a the next one - 'I' for Information! The scope is as rich as it is diverse - from Barack Obama's State of the Nation address to the issues in Syria to the Energy Crisis! Last term, Manasi's class worked on a book about Egypt - through research and discussion, they learned about an entire culture, right in the classroom! Of course, living in a foreign country, studying in International schools, and traveling to so many different places all play a big role in this Information Explosion! Naturally, there's such a thing as too much information - kids these days seem to be growing up too fast, grappling with issues well beyond their years. I can't control what my child hears on the playground or on the school bus - the only thing I can do is to reinforce the sense of right and wrong, and then do everything possible to keep the lines of communication open! The Internet is not going anywhere, neither is the Information it provides - so listen to what your child is telling you. You might hear more than you bargained for!

Before I had Manasi - I remember reading an article about giving your kids roots and wings - Identity and Independence, anyone? Independence, they have in spades - trying out their fledgling wings, already soaring far above us, promising to reach dizzy heights. Identity is a bit tricky. In this environment of global culture, the traditional forms of identity - race and nationality - seem to be dissolving. These kids are truly global citizens - they don't carry the baggage of prejudice. Robust family values, a strong moral compass will give them roots - their identity will be their very own!

At the end of the day, being a parent is essentially a one-way street. You nurture your children, you worry about them - and after all the sleepless nights, and moments of unfettered joy - you step back and watch with great pride as they claim their rightful place in the world. After all, for any generation, isn't the reward of parenting - parenting itself??

For parents everywhere...