Mia

I had a nice conversation with Mia last week explaining to her that because we live in a different country (and I am not used to all of the "cultural" rituals/necessities) that there may be times she feels left out in school. I told her that if this happened, it was certainly not because I did not want her to have or do something, but simply because I do not know that this is a custom or necessity. I will give you an example... ALL off the German children wear undershirts all year long. I have never owned an undershirt, Bryan has never (atleast not since I have known him) worn an undershirt, and Bailey and Camden have never worn undershirts, BUT ALL GERMAN KIDS WEAR UNDERSHIRTS - it is just a cultural thing. Needless to say, for three years, MIA has not worn an undershirt either, but I never realized it bothered her (they have a "turnen" class - kind of like gymnastics - in her school, where the kids must change into their sport clothes so she has noticed this difference). I explained to her that SHE has to be the one to tell me these things, otherwise I would nnever know.

It was really funny, because later in the week, I was school shopping - once again trying to find all of the particular items that she needs :-). Mia was with me, and we came across a stack of these HUGE cone shaped cardboard container-like items. I knew EXACTLY what these cone shaped things were, but didn't want to let on to her that I knew. Mia started getting all giddy and excited, and she yells (per our conversation earlier in the week), "MOMMY -YOU HAVE TO BUY ME ONE OF THESE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL - ALL GERMAN FIRST GRADERS GET THESE!!!!!!!!!" Mia is super sweet, so she didn't yell this in a greedy kind of way, but instead in a way that she was trying to be nice, but also certainly didn't want to miss out on this German Tradition. It made me smile that she truly understood what I was talking about earlier in the week - and she wanted to be very clear that this was a German necessity.

The cone-shaped container is called a "Schultute" and is given to children entering the first class (first grade) on the first day of school. It is kind of like a stocking filled with goodies and treats. The tradition was created in order to help keep children "sweet" when they begin school. I love the idea of the tradition, and already knew about it(Bailey actually had already decorated Mia's schultute back in July) - It made me smile though to hear Mia stick up for herself in the "schultute" department (I guess she didn't care so much about the undershirt, but definitely didn't want to miss out on this)!