Back to school....thoughts and memories about school...mine...my kids and my grand-kids...
...even all these many, many years later I can still feel the bittersweet excitement of returning to school after a wonderful summer vacation. How I loved coming home from the seashore or camp and going with my mother to shop for new "school clothes". I remember the just-bought smell of the school supplies that sat neatly piled on my little desk in my bedroom...and putting bookcovers on books with my daddy... making sure I had two hankies, "one for show and one for blow" (...a little saying that would have a far different meaning today!!). I looked forward to the children all gathering in the courtyard of our building and walking, in a huge crowd, to school. We crossed streets, holding the hands of our younger siblings or neighbors, picked up more friends along the way, and caught up on local kid-gossip. Once you got to second grade no adults accompanied you...it was indeed, another era! My new shoes slid on the pavement and my brand new dress was crisp and starched. The idea of jeans or sneakers in school was simply unheard of. Tuesday was Assembly day and boys wore white shirts and red ties and navy blue pants...girls wore a white middy blouse ( a stunning little number that had a sailor collar with a red silk tie held in place by a little loop on the front) and a navy skirt. We stood as a unit when Mr. Weinberger, the pince-nez wearing principal, entered our classroom, and we held our teachers in a sort of awe.
Lunch was eaten at home unless it was raining, in which case I took a lunchbox filled with my mother's wonderful food. I could also buy lunch, which usually consisted of a cottage cheese and raisin sandwich on whole-wheat bread, watery tomato soup, an orange, a graham cracker and a container of luke-warm milk. This was served by Mrs. O'Day -The-Lunch- Lady, in her white uniform usually covered by a white apron and on her head a thick hair-net that often allowed her steel-wool curls to escape and stick to her always damp forehead... I tried school lunch ONCE!
When we got to fourth grade we could walk over to Tongees's Restaurant and buy lunch. My favorite was always a roast beef sandwich with butter on toast and a chocolate milk shake... which cost seventy-five cents!!! (...such a treat for me since although not actually kosher at home, we never had meat and butter together!)
After school we would come home, change clothes, have a snack and run outside to meet friends and play. No one took us to play-dates, we created our own. Children wandered over from other buildings, and as we grew up, we visited friends on other blocks, and later traveled to other neighborhoods. A soon as dusk began to fall we went inside, had dinner and did homework. It was such a safe, innocent and comfortable environment... one parent's child became every parent's child...someone always had an eye on us even if we thought were pretty much on our own. A mother's face could always be seen at a window, we knew she was there even if we wern't looking up. Those were days of innocence...
When my own children started school there was quite a change. First of all, they were suburban kids...I had been a city child. They still had to "dress appropriately" at school, played after school by walking to a friend's house, came in at dusk to have dinner and do homework... but "...times, they were a-changin'..." This was in many ways a more casual era, but in many ways it was much more structured... the era of the car-pool and the beginning of child-scheduling...tennis...religious school... tutoring...ballet...gymnastics...piano lessons...Little League (games and practice)...and just about what ever everyone else in the neighborhood was signed up for.
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| The Franklin School, Westfield, NJ |
The first elementary school my eldest son attended after pre-school was in Westfield, NJ. I remember holding his little hand as I delivered him to kindergarten. Parents were permitted to stay in the hall the first day. If we were leaving we could go in and say goodby and assure them we would return to collect them after school. I was on the verge of tears as I handed him over to his teacher, and watched as he made a bee-line for the train set in the corner. He looked up at me, as if to reassure me, and proceeded to gather a group of children around him as he engineered the toy train around the track...I stepped outside and met the other mothers. One by one they would enter the class-room say good-bye... sometimes loud wails followed them out. I waited a long time before I went in. I stood beside my son, who was now in a group of little boys who were drawing on a huge paper on the floor...and softly said..."I am going now, sweetheart" My startled son looked up and said..."Why are you still here, Mommy? I thought you went home already!" My baby was growing up...
We car-pooled the children the few blocks to school. Five little children would pile into the car, and by the time they were settled we would have arrived. No car seats or boosters or even seat-belts...just five kids piled in with books and lunch boxes and projects...
One rainy morning stands out in my memory. My husband had just put my daughter on the nursery school bus and then left for work. The older first graders were arriving for my carpool turn and the rain started coming down...hard. I was pregnant, out of sorts and not yet dressed, and with a giant roller in the front of my hair... but the children were very antsy so I pulled a jacket over my nightgown, stepped into my pink fuzzy slippers and set out to drive them the few blocks to school, hoping no one would see me or, God forbid, stop to say hello. As we pulled up in front of the school my son spotted his best friend Paul and jumped out of the car to walk with him...and fell...hard...tearing his pants and badly scraping his knee. I sat in horror as I realized that the principal was staring at me and waiting for me to get out and pick up my bleeding, crying child ...and I just sat, frozen ... it seemed every eye was on me, my pink flannel maternity nightgown, fuzzy slippers and giant hair roller! At last the gym teacher picked him up, brought him to the car and before I could say a word she looked at me, smiled and said..."...I understand"...I never, ever, ever, since that day, ever went out of the house unless I was fully dressed, made up and hair combed...(sometimes I do wear slippers, tho')
As my children grew up, the way kids dressed at school relaxed tremendously. Jeans, sneakers, shorts in summer were all permitted. By the time we enrolled our children in private school they were used to this relaxed dress and were not pleased with a dress code at all. No jeans, sneakers in gym only and boys had to have a collar on their shirts and a belt on their pants. My daughter's school actually wore uniforms! Wow...seemed like old times...right?
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| Newark Academy, Livingston, NJ |
Innocence was starting to give way to the electronic age and we began to hear about predators. Suddenly children were not totally safe even in their own neighborhoods. My children were in their teens when we got that first, rudimentary computer. There were no smart phones, texting, sexting...not yet. No such thing as cyber-bullying...seems that yes, indeed "...the times, they were a-changin'..."
And now...tomorrow my precious grandchildren will be walking into school. They are allowed to be wearing jeans and t-shirts and sneakers and will wear outfits that they picked out themselves the night before. They will have their back-packs loaded with supplies that were assigned by computer. Their lunches can be purchased in school and the menu includes hamburgers, pizza, sandwiches, yogurt and fresh fruits and vegetables. Sometimes they will bring lunch packed by their moms, and buy icy cold milk or juice and a treat for dessert. The school lunch rooms are part of all-purpose areas and while still hair-netted and white clad, the lunch ladies know the all of the children's names and which ones have food allergies!
The children arrive by bus and car. If they walk they are supervised carefully by an adult. (A uniformed guard sits at the door and all who enter the schools have to sign in and get a pass.) They will discuss bullying and how to prevent or deal with it. They will learn how to deal with strangers who approach them. Parents will reinforce this at home. Not so innocent.
After school there are activities or play-dates. Children are always adult-supervised and mothers are ever watchful. The children are simply not aware that this has not always been the way it was...it is just the way it is. They can do math that confounds their parents, navigate cyberspace like Steve Jobs by the time they reach first grade, know every word of Lady GaGa's music that pours into their ears via i-pods, know how to read by the time they enter kindergarten and yet, they still operate with the joy, innocence and wonder of childhood..(.much to the delight of their adoring Nana). So happy back to school...have a wonderful year!
Here are some easy kid-friendly recipes...ideas for lunches, snacks and fast dinners before sports practice...
My Grandkids' favorite Brownie snack
1 box Pillsbury or Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie mix
2 eggs
1/4 cup black coffee
2/3 cup oil
2/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup whipped cream cheese
1/2 bag chocolate MINI chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (OPTIONAL)
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients well until all blended and pour into a greased pan (see box)
Bake according to instructions on the box plus about 5 minutes.
Let cool and dust with powdered sugar. Cut and wrap individually in plastic wrap.
Great lunchbox or after-school snack
"TheBest Pasta I Ever Ate" (with a nod to my friend Maureen for the recipe!)
2 lbs. shredded cheddar cheese
1 lb. macaroni or small shells
2-4 tbsp. butter and enough flour to make a thick roux
enough milk to make a velvety sauce (about 2/3- 1 cup...you need to judge as you cook)
1 1/2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1- Cook pasta, drain and set aside in a large casserole
2- Melt butter in a medium sauce pan
3- Add flour to make a thick roux (paste) and then add milk stirring constantly until it becomes a velvety and smooth sauce.
4- Slowly add the cheese until it is all melted, continue stirring...if it becomes too thick add more milk
5- Pour cheese sauce over the pasta and mix to cover all pasta
6- Bake at 350 derees until golden and bubbly (about 30-40 minutes)
Carrot Salad
4-6 carrots peeled and grated
2/3 cup of raisins
2/3 cup apple cut into small pieces (you can also use pineapple)
1/2 cup Mayo or 1/4 c.mayo and 1/4 c. sour cream
Mix all ingredients and add mayo ...
Kids love carrots, raisins, apples and pineapple, together this is a healthy salad they will ask for again and again!
Delicious Squares
1 large pyrex baking dish
Melt 1/4 lb. butter in the baking dish
over that spread 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs
over that spread 1 cup very finely chopped nuts (optional)
over that spread 1 cup shredded coconut
over that spread1 bag of chocolate chips
over this pour 1 large can Eagle Brand condensed milk
Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. Let cool and cut in squares.
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