Listography Top Five sweets

The very sweet Kate Takes 5 has a listography theme of top five sweets this week, which has prompted a trip down memory lane.  My local sweet shop as a child looked nothing like this picture, it was run by a witch with nicotine stained fingers and nails like corkscrews.   We were only allowed to buy from her if the sweets came wrapped.  We snuck in to buy candy cigarettes, but for proper sweets we had to go further afield.  

I still remember the excitement of mum taking me to the newsagents to buy me 2oz of cough candy twists in a little white bag.  They were the first boiled sweest I was allowed, and this sweet shop rite of passage was made even more special because mum took me to the newsagents without my little brother.

I think my dad introduced me to aniseed balls. Many happy hours of turning my tongue red and crunching away to get at the seed in the middle.  Wondering in some Willy Wonka type fantasy whether if I planted it, it would it grow into an aniseed ball tree.

Mum introduced me to sherbet fountains too.  I was always disappointed that the licorice straw didn't quite function as it was supposed to.   I soon discovered sherbet dib dabs did exactly what they said on the packet though. 

My grandparents always had polos around.  I don't know why having a hole makes them better, but it is a piece of genius product design.  A classic sweet. 

The best thing ever as a very little girl was those sweetie necklaces.  Jewellery and sugar,  now you're talking to the thirty three five year old in me.

Listography

Kate at Kate Takes 5 has a fab new linky idea, Listography.  What.  a.  brilliant.  idea.  I love a good list.  I spend lots of time writing them so I can lose, abuse and ignore them.

This week the theme is top five good things about having children.  Now this is a list I sometimes lose sight of, so it is very good to come back to it:

1. Children live in the now.  After an early morning flight to Spain earlier this year we found ourselves surrounded by grumpy adults in a slow moving hire car queue. Our kids had everyone smiling again as they pushed each other round on their car seats.  Kids can create magic anywhere, whereas adults waste time waiting for it to start.

2. The joy of playing. I've blogged a bit about this in 2010. Kackel Dackel and Sindy houses. Need I say more?  I reckon you've had enough now of toilet humour.

3. Creativity. I love to paint, stick, glue and glitter alongside children. Children don't give into their inner critic as easily as adults. As a result they are prolific artists who derive huge pleasure from creating.

4.  Let's pretend.  I love children's unihibited ability to play and pretend.  As a Drama teacher I was continually amazed by it.  It's something actors spend ages trying to channel themselves back into.

5. Children's stories. Whether in books, in your head, in their head, on stage, film or TV the magical world of storytelling is a fantastic place to visit.

Kate was right, lists do tell a lot about a person don't they? As I do this the kids are half watching Shrek, there are umpteen million paintings drying in the kitchen.  One is playing mummies and daddies and the other is wielding an Aquadraw set.  It's also been a day with its fair share of stresses, but this reminds me it's so good to pull out the positives.

Looking forward to reading everyone else's lists.

.

"/>