Coloring Through Germany and One Small Question

A box of crayons. For all the times my son Eran has tried to share his German heritage with his little ones, none of it stuck the way a box of crayons did. A few years ago, Eran and I took a bus tour through Germany together. Köln, Frankfurt, Berlin, München, all the way up to the Zugspitze, and so many small towns in between that we lost count. He took photos constantly, partly for his work with Tour My Germany and German at Heart, and partly because he wanted to remember it properly and share it with his family. Lately, those photos have found a new little audience. My youngest grandson is my little Schatz, my little treasure. He’s just started preschool in Wales. At that age, the world is mostly the size of his street and the people he knows, and anything beyond that feels fuzzy and far away. Last week Eran called me and told me something that honestly brought tears to my eyes. He’d been making coloring pages of places in Germany for his website, using photos from our trip. He even added a little QR code on each one that links back to the real photo, with a few simple facts. And he thought he’d try them out on my little Schatz first. So he printed one page, sat down with him, told him it was the Plönlein in Rothenburg, Germany, and handed him the crayons. And then my little Schatz looked up and asked, “What’s Germany?” That was the first time he had ever asked. Not as a random word, but with real curiosity. Eran told him about our trip, about his Oma traveling alongside him, and my little Schatz actually sat there and listened. Eran has tried to pass this on in small ways for years. In the end, all it took was a coloring page and some crayons. If you have children, grandchildren, or even a grown-up in your life who might love these too, you’ll find the coloring pages here: Coloring Through Germany It reminded me of something I keep learning, as a mother and now as an Oma. You don't always notice it at the time, but the small things are what shape a child. A conversation here, a tradition there, an ordinary moment over breakfast, and slowly they begin to understand who they are and where their family came from. And of course I can’t send a Monday Musing without slipping in a recipe somewhere, or I wouldn’t be much of an Oma trying to feed everyone at my table. When Eran was a bit older than my little Schatz is now, his most requested birthday meal was rouladen with kartoffelklöße and rotkohl. Not exactly a typical little-kid request, but then again, it’s one of those classic German special-occasion meals that everyone enjoys. He still asks for it when they come to visit, all these years later. Whatever you are passing along to the people you love this week, even if it feels like nothing much, keep doing it. They are listening more than you know. Now pass those crayons! Tschüss!Oma Gerhild

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Coloring Through Germany and One Small Question

A box of crayons.

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