Station: [20] Playing, learning, celebrating feasts
Schneewittchen:
Come on, you dwarfs -- all seven of you! Quickly now. You’ve played long enough. The children will be here soon, and we’ll need to get back into our picture.
Zwerg:
Aww … Snow White … already? I want to play for a bit longer, with the digger. And the locomotive with its trailer, I haven’t tried those out yet, either.
Schneewittchen:
We’ll do that tomorrow night. Now, we need to hurry. (klatscht in die Hände) Quickly, my darling dwarfs, tidy up, so the children don’t notice.
Zwerg:
Who cares if they notice we’re having a bit of fun, too…
Schneewittchen:
Wash your hands, and then back into the picture.
Zwerg:
Oh no, come on!
Schneewittchen:
You know perfectly well it will be chaos in here very soon. Children large and small, some almost babies still, and others nearly ready to go to school. After all, we’re in the first combined children’s facility in the entire German Democratic Republic, a nursery and kindergarten in one. The good thing about that is, that the children stay together and in one place until they start school, while their mummies and daddies earn a living at the steel works or at other industrial sites during the day,.…
Zwerg:
… and the children come to combined day care with us. But why can’t they all stay home for a change!
Schneewittchen:
That’s not possible, you know that! We have full employment in the GDR, all the adults go to work, men and women alike. In every family, the mother and father both have to earn money to cover all the necessary expenses. And the children come here to be with us.
Zwerg:
And they love coming here to be with us!
Schneewittchen:
That’s because it’s nice here. There’s lots to experience, and we have great parties, not just on birthdays. For example, we celebrate Children’s Day, we have the Candy Cone celebrations for those about to start school, then carnival and Christmas parties, Easter and summer celebrations…
Zwerg:
And the children learn all kinds of things with us. That’s why they like it here. And in the afternoons, they’re back at home with their families.
Schneewittchen:
That goes without saying, but it wasn’t always true. Not that long ago, there were still weekly kindergartens and nurseries. Which meant that some children were cared for from Mondays to Fridays, and only spent the weekends at home. Because both parents had to work shift and so couldn’t look after the children. That wasn’t at all nice for the children, nor for the parents. That’s why those facilities were done away with.
Zwerg:
A good thing, too! But how long do we have to stay still and not move?
Schneewittchen:
Only till this evening. When the last of the children have been picked up, and the pre-school teachers have gone home, we’ll come back to life.…
Zwerg:
Not until this evening? That’s so mean!
Schneewittchen:
… but until then, my sweet dwarfs, take your places in the picture.
Sshh! I hear them coming. Here, brown dwarf, give me your hand. And you others, stop moving now. See you later!