Whilst you are all awaiting [as I'm sure you must be, with bated breath] the next cookery school episode, here is a nice story which Katia told me today:
All Italy is in a panic over the swine 'flu "epidemic", so yesterday afternoon Katia attended a parents' meeting on the subject at her daughter's nursery school. The parents were advised to tell their three-year-old children not to touch their mouths or ears, touch their friends, put toys near their mouths or play with their friends' toys - in short, they are not to do any of the things a three-year-old normally does hundreds of times a day. The children are to be exhorted to sneeze into a tissue and wash their hands before touching virtually anything whilst counting up to 20 . Katia was just wondering how many of her daughter's companions actually knew how to count to 20 when another mother piped up,
"My son tried to do that but the bidelli [the ubiquitous porters who keep every Italian school running] told him to hurry up!"
Moral: If you are going to issue new rules for children, it is a good idea to inform the adults who have to deal with them.
