It’s not always easy raising kids bilingually. There are the funny looks on the street, the difficulties inherent in finding English equivalents for words like "Federmappe", "Mäppchen", "Zuckertüte" "Morgenkreis" etc. and then there's the small problem of not understanding what the hell your kids are going on about!
It took me a good three days to work out who "the Deebs" were, stopping my daughter from falling asleep at night. According to my five-year-old, the Deebs wear masks and like the dark and are pretty much permanently stationed outside our front door just waiting to get in when we aren't looking. At first I thought they were a new TV invention, but after my daughter elaborated that they really, really liked gold and jewels but weren't pirates, I finally cottoned on: she meant "thieves" or "Diebe" in German.
And bi-lingual teenagers don't have an easy time of it either. It's hard enough being a normal teenager, never mind being one who brings weird food to school in her packed lunch box. My eldest unwrapped her snack of pancakes (left over from breakfast), and after explaining to a disgusted crowd of spotty peers that they were "pancakes" the boys spent the next week asking her if she had brought any more "Penner Kekse" in to school to share!
Note to self: put a plate of "Penner Kekse" on the doorstep to keep the Deebs away, and get us a decent night's sleep!
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