Friday 8 October 2010

A fun purchase that turns my world upside down -

I made a purchase the other week. Something that I thought would be fun to wear  at work.  For those who don't know, I work full time in Norway's education industry, working with pre-schoolers. (95% of Norwegian children go to day care full time, which is incorporated into the Norwegian school system).

I saw the ring below from my friend, RenatheSchneider



I had expected the kids to think it was super cool, and my co-workers would be skeptical, roll their eyes and think: Yeah, we expect that sort of thing from Nicole. 

Instead and much to my surprise it turned out to be quite the reverse.  My co-workers thought it was really cool, asked me who I bought it from, how it was made and what the price was.  From my co-workers I had my 'outside-the-box-personality' accepted and even honored a bit. 



From about 30 kids over a two day period I had conversations like this:

Is that a bee in there? -- No it's a fly.

Is it dead? -- Yes.  

How did it get in there? -- The woman who made the ring put it in there.

Why? -- She thought it was a cool idea.  I also thought it was a cool idea and so I  bought it from her. 

Does it still make buzzing sounds? - No, it's definitely dead.

Did she kill the fly? -- No, the fly was already dead on a window sill before she made the ring.

Why? -- Because flies are born and only live a few weeks before they die.  That's the way they're made.

Why would you put a dead fly on your hand? -- That's a really good question.  I think it's a fun thing to do.  

My mom got mad at me for squishing dead flies. -- I can understand that.  Squishing dead flies can be a bit yucky. 

I don't think my mom would like that ring.  -- Yeah, I can bet a lot of mommies wouldn't like that ring.

Why do you like that ring? -- I guess I like it because it's different than all the other rings I see. I don't think there's anyone else in Norway that has a ring like this.

Are you sure you're allowed to wear that?  -- ????

And so the questions continued.  I honestly didn't think that this ring would cause such a stir with all the little ones I work with.  There were a lot that did think my ring was cool.  But I was very surprised at the number of children who DID NOT think it was cool, and who questioned in a 4-5 year old way if it was acceptable to use animals as decorations.  Which does to go show that our hard work of introducing ideas of ethics and philosophy are starting to pay off. 

10 comments:

RitaJC said...

BRAVO for the questioning kids!!! :D

Unknown said...

What a wonderful post Nicole, I enjoyed it very very much. And the ring is awesome. Poor fly.

Lucie Tales said...

lol Nicole!!!!!

Renathe said...

Amazing how a ring could make people talk that much ;)
I hope you told the kids that the woman who made the ring didn't kill the fly!
The fly was already dead when she found it.

Thanks so much for your great story!
Have a wonderful weekend!

StaroftheEast said...

LOL :D
I love how kids are so honost :D

MissLucy said...

fantastic! the ring AND the kids!

Kim van Waardenburg said...

What a funny post!! thanks for sharing these reactions!!

Mami Made It said...

Great story! Love it!

BHB Kidstyle said...

Lol! Love the conversation with the kids!

Lariata said...

Kids reaction is interesting :) They always can ask so very much questions :)) and ring is original!