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Page 16 The th OSCAR - OUR 36 YEAR
DEC 2008
A HARD DAY’S PLAY
Remember your Greek Myths?
By Mary P.
What? You didn’t spend long
hours as a child curled
into a comfy chair with
philandering Zeus, pissed-off Hera,
horny Aphrodite and the drunken
Bacchus? What were your parents
thinking?
Tantalus, for those of you who
may not remember, was the poor
unfortunate soul sentenced to spend
the afterlife submerged in water up
to his neck which dipped away when
he tried to quench his thirst, and
surrounded by bunches of grapes
which retreated out of reach when he
tried to satiate his hunger.
I did something similar to the
daycare tots this week. The Tantalus
thing — from which we get, obviously,
the word “tantalize”.
First, I set onto the dining room
table five single-size “gingerbread
houses”: graham crackers welded
together with royal icing, made a few
days prior. Food, in other words. Food
which they were NOT to eat.
They were not entirely
successful.
“Emily! Emily, lovie, don’t eat
that! Not now. We’re going to decorate
them later.”
Timmy looks at me with his huge
blue soulful eyes. “But we’re hungry,
Mary!”
It is 10:03. Snacktime is 10:00. Ah,
those 100% accurate tummy clocks.
Still, it’s a decent strategy: fill them up
with something nutritious, and maybe
they won’t eat the gingerbread fixings
before they get on the houses.
Yeah, I know. I can hear you
snorting from here, and you’re right.
No amount of fruit slices dipped in
yoghurt will make a child “too full” to
eat jellybeans. Still, I am a beneficent
dictator. I figure if two jellybeans out
of four make it onto their houses, I’ll
count us successful. In fact, they quite
surprise me. Once we get started, they
are utterly engrossed in the process of
gluing the candies to the icing.
It’s enthralling. It’s tricky. It’s just
the right balance of fine motor control
and fun. They work in focussed
silence for a good 10 or 15 minutes.
Anna goes a full half hour, long after
the others have left the table. And
the results? Bright and sticky (and
charmingly primitive) architectural
sweetness!
Bright and sticky UNCONSUMED
architectural sweetness! Until their
parents arrived, at any rate. What
happened to those things in the car on
the way home? NOT my problem.
Merry Christmas!