In the spirit of our learning we decided to try something with the kids. We've been learning all that we can about the Netherlands in school recently and this week we've focused on the German occupation of Holland during the second world war. Our focus has mostly been on how the Dutch people lived during and for a while after the occupation. We read two great books, The Greatest Skating Race and Boxes for Katje and both of them help the kids get a better feel for the fear, hunger and desperation felt by the Dutch people. We then came up with some interview questions that we asked Oma and Opa over a Skype session because both of their parents lived through the war and had passed many stories down. Maddy was especially interested in the stories of Great Oma and Opa eating tulip bulbs and dandelions because they were so hungry, Great Oma biking all the way up north for a sack of potatoes (only to have it stolen upon her return home) and Great Opa hiding beneath the floor boards in order to avoid being taken away to the German work camps.
At first both kids showed very little enthusiasm to eat, so I went out to the yard to get a few dandelions as incentive. (Just as a joke, of course!) We did look it up and all parts of the dandelion are edible, but the stem. We all opted for the potatoes and cabbage instead though.
From the books we read and then also confirmed by Oma and Opa, we learned that often the only food they ate (if they were lucky) were porridge during the day and boiled potatoes and cabbage for dinner. Initially, I thought it would be a good exercise for the kids to have a very bland meal of potatoes and cabbage, but then Josh decided to raise the ante and to serve just a very small portion of it too (In hopes of teaching the kids a bit about the idea of 'rationing'). So for dinner tonight, between the four of us we at less than half a boiled cabbage and about one and half potatoes (the baking kind). I took pity on us and gave a sprinkling of salt on the cabbage! Maddy said that she didn't really like the cabbage but was a good sport and ate it up. At first Ethan was really excited for this meal. We'd been talking about the 'experience' for a couple of days. He even asked to have his picture taken as he posed with the dandelion. When it came time to eat the cabbage, he had a much harder time, but he was a good sport and tried his best to keep it down.
Here's Ethan before he started eating.
Yes, he did spit it out in that bottom picture. He did manage to eat one piece of cabbage and actually swallow it.
We told the kids that in order to really get a feel for the experience, they wouldn't have anything else to eat until breakfast the next day. Poor Ethan!! Josh said he was trying so hard to put on a brave face tonight at bedtime when he said he was hungry. When I went in to tuck him in, I told him that I'd make lots of cheesy-eggs and toast tomorrow and he gave me the biggest smile before rolling over to try and get to sleep.
I'm pretty sure the kids learned a lot from the exercise. I have a strong feeling that there won't be any complaints about meals for at least all day tomorrow. Once the complaining starts again, I may just put a bouquet of dandelions in the centre of the table. That should do the trick, don't you think??? :)
