Down with the kids

Big Sis knows lots of stuff. She has the memory of a small elephant and tucks away fact and fiction at an alarming rate! She remembers everything she sees on tv, in the street, around the house and of course from her extensive library of preschool literature!

However, information isn’t the same as experience, and as she has only lived in the world for (almost) 4 short years there is a big gap between what she knows and what she understands!

On the weekend we took the kids up into the mountains to see snow. Last time we attempted a “snow play” Little Bro was in my tummy - so the family was pretty excited, it’s been a long time between snowballs!

Big Sis had been researching extensively all week and knew a lot about snow, how and where it occurs, its major properties and what people do around it! I predicted that despite this extensive knowledge there would be at least 2 points that in the reality of experience would cause her some consternation, and I was not disappointed. The points were:

1. it takes a long time to get to the snow; and

2. snow is cold.

The drive seemed to last an eternity for 2 excited kids and no discussion or explanation helped them manage their emotions. By the end of the hour and a half drive they were in absolute despair of ever reaching their destination! Little Bro was actually whimpering!

The next challenge was actually getting everyone dressed in their layers of mismatched clothing. We were fully decked out in the gear a family wears when they don’t usually get to the snow. These included layers of tops, gumboots with 3 pairs of socks and over-sized raincoats with hand me down mittens that don’t really fit!

Despite claiming to understand that snow is cold - Little Sis thought we were over reacting and insisted on removing her mittens as soon as she was out of the car. She then cried in anguish for the rest of the visit because - “my hands are so cold! ”

Building the snowman was also a bit of a challenge because the snow was harder than imagined and wouldn’t form nice round clumps like the snowmen we have been seeing in books! Big Sis found the over-sized mittens hampered her artistic endeavours, but guess what, if she took them off - snow is cold!

We lasted an hour before we struggled down the slippery path to the car park with both children crying. Little Bro had learned some new vocab - and was enunciating clearly between sobs, “I’m cold” and “No No No Snow” !

Big Sis’ frustration at this point was being channeled at the recently experienced fact that - “Snow is slippery!”. I think I saw a bystander laugh as I calmly explained to her it is indeed that property that makes snow so much fun, thus skiing, snow boarding and tobogganing!

Once back in the car, warmed up and eating bananas the kids moods dramatically improved. And don’t get me wrong - DSO and I were quite pleased with the day. We got some photos, no one was injured and now the kids understood a few things about snow which would make the next trip much easier. A good day of parenting we thought to ourselves, and Big Sis confirmed this on the way down the mountain when she considered the morning and said:

“I love snow, can we come back again?”