Thursday, January 08, 2015

The King Cake's Drama

France is mourning for its losts. What happened is wrong and sad. I might share about my thoughts later.

It is January, the month where we savour King Cake again. It is a tradition where the youngest kid will hide under the table, and call out the name of the person who will get a slide of the King Cake. When everyone gets its slide, they will eat their cake and find out who gets the fève (a porcelain figure hidden in the cake). That person will become the king or the queen of the day and is entitled to a paper crown. Most bakeries sell these during the whole month of January, the most common fillings being frangipane and chocolate.

We were going to the Wednesday Chinese class so I thought it would be a good idea to bring some King Cakes to share with the kids. As usual it took Aelig a little time to warm up before actively participing into the lessons. When the lesson ended, we were going to warm up the cakes when suddenly Aelig threw us a tantrum. She told me she wanted the fève for herself. I explained to her that it depended on her luck, I was not the one deciding who gets it. She wouldn't listen to any word I said and started crying and insisting she wanted to be the one getting the fève. While we were trying to warm up the cakes, she prevented other kids to touch the cakes and claimed that the one cake was for her alone. It was a whole mess as I had to feed Awena at the same time. I forgot what happened next, but finally she sat down eating her cake, and several minutes later she standed up with a smile telling me secretly that she won, as she flip opened the crust and saw the fève inside! When she finally got it, she jumped with joy and other kids were happy for her too.

Well, she didn't have to the drama queen, as it turned I got the fève from another cake. Together with what her grandma gave her, she has now three fève in collection, that she happily put with her frogs game.

I was very disturbed by her behavior, other kids didn't ask to get the fève, they were surprised at her crying. On the way home, I asked why she was so afraid that others would get the fève, while she didn't react that way while her classmates got it when they had King Cake at school. She told me that all her classmates are her friends and she likes them, so they can get it. But these kids from the Chinese lessons are not her friends, so she would be very angry if they get it. Wow, I didn't know that! They played along well, Why won't she consider them her friend? I probably need to pay more attention to her emotions.



2 comments:

  1. Ronan (almost 6) cry every time he doesn't have it ^^. Now I make home-made cake and put a lot a feve in it.

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  2. I did not know about King Cake until now. thanks for sharing. How does the cake look like? If the slice of cake is heavy, does it mean it will have the fève inside? Did you ask her why she does not think of the children in her Chinese class as her friends?

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