Why My Scottish Kids are So Great...

It turns out that the Scottish versions of my kids are better than the American versions. First of all, though we have only been here for a month, they both sound much more refined, now that they are slowly picking up a Scottish accent and using Scottish colloquialisms. John’s accent is the most pronounced, and he now affects just the right up-and-down inflection at the end of all of his sentences: the word “juice” at the end of “Mum, may I have some juice?” has about three syllables when he says it (and never mind about the use of the “may I,” which definitely didn’t happen in the States!) He now calls Band-Aids “plasters” and erasers “rubbers” (though I still have some difficulty responding to that one with a straight face…), and constantly reminds us to ask him to change his “trousers” rather than “pants,” which are underwear here. Emma’s accent is no different yet, though she has started to describe things as “lovely” and “brilliant” more often than “cool” or “awesome.” Much better!

Second, they are both really absorbed in the things they are learning at school. Aside from his thrice-daily football games (once before school, and once during each “playtime”) which he of course loves, he’s starting to enjoy learning quite a bit about different cultures, and about their histories. He has somehow wrapped his head around the whole Stuart dynasty thing, and actually has a bit of a handle on the various King James and how they are related to the various Robert the Bruces. His class is now talking about the Romans and their influence on Scotland and England, which is a pretty heavy lesson for kids in P3, I think. Of course, since he came home and said he had learned about “Jessica Caesar,” it looks like the class still has a bit of work to do there.

Emma’s class has been doing a piece on Scottish Opera with the other kids in P5 and P6, and their teachers have been helping them with several pieces of music. Yesterday, the folks from the Scottish Opera, which is the national opera company based in Glasgow, came to the school and, in a matter of two hours, put together an incredibly professional performance with ALL the kids in the upper grades. David and I went to see the performance, and were both taken aback at how good it was. They had really coached the kids to belt the songs out, and though there wasn’t a lot of movement around the stage to choreograph, it was still quite a feat, especially since it included so many kids of so many different temperaments (even Naughty Charlie was up there!) I was a little nonplussed to see the other parents in the audience react so mildly to the performance, so it looks as if the school regularly churns out school productions of such quality. No wonder American schools are falling behind…

The biggest reason the kids are so much better here, of course, has actually nothing to do with the schools, and has a lot more to do with the experience of leaving home for an extended period of time. Our whole family has really embraced the less-is-more lifestyle that living in a rental house across an ocean from most of the stuff that we own requires. David and I have about two drawers-ful of clothes with us (and yet are STILL wearing only about 30% of them…!), and the kids have about ten Playmobil figures each, and that’s about it. And yet, they are playing with that small amount of toys much, much more than they ever did in the States. They are playing with each other much more often, and with us as well. And they are really getting creative with building more toys for themselves—last night, they were making bunk beds for their Playmobil people out of raspberry cartons, invisible tape and tissues. It turns out that all they really need to survive is a pair of cleats, a library card, and an iPod Touch loaded with a Whoo! Button and the Glee version of” Empire State of Mind” on it.

Now, as long as all this Irn Bru doesn’t rot their teeth before we leave…

Below is a video of the Scottish Opera performance. Emma's in the green dress in front, and some of the lyrics are below.

Land of the purple heather

Fine folk but mingin' weather

We love a wee blether:

Scotland the Brave

Land o' the rolling sea haars

Kids keeping bees in jam jars

Land o' the deep-fried Mars bars:

Scotland the Brave.

We are a people cut from granite;

that's what makes us strong!

We long to tramp our hills and braes

For that's where we belong.

With the tang of the sea and the high rocky ben

and the scream of the hawk sounding over the glen:

We are a people born to tell their story with a song.

Here are tales of roving Reivers and of Viking hordes.

In this wee country we've invented Tarmac roads,

Sweet marmalade and Macintosh's coats

Haggis and neeps and champit tatties and

Bagpipes and shortbread and golf.

Think of Alexander Graham Bell:

His invention serves us well,

Show your gratitude to Scotland each time you call home!

This, the home of Strethspeys and jigs and Highland reels

Steam engines and Chris Hoy upon two wheels.

Birthplace of Treasure Island, Robert Burns,

Napier and Aly and Phil.