We love "Charlie and Lola" in our house - the books and the programme. The combination of retro-styling and well-pitched entertainment makes it an attractive viewing option for all five of us. One of the real bonuses for us is that the characters all talk in English accents. So much of what the children watch contains mostly American accents that to have good English/British entertainment is a luxury. Thanks to Uncle Jez for our Charlie and Lola DVD collection!Probably like many parents of an older boy and a younger girl, we can see some similarities between Charlie and Lola and our two (we know we have three but, sadly, in this instance Esther doesn’t count…), and it is now one of their favourite things to play, not just watch (especially as they are both able to recite whole chunks of an episode!). There is a particular episode that highlights these similarities and it has an impact on our continuing acclimatisation to life here in Athens:
But I Am An Alligator sees Lola dressed up as an 
alligator. She goes EVERYWHERE in the alligator costume: the supermarket; the park; the school, even when her outfit produces problems for her. Charlie is completely embarrassed about the whole business. He is nervous on her behalf about what others might think and is sensitive to feelings that she doesn’t actually have. Although Hannah isn’t that keen on dressing up, she is mostly completely herself in any situation (this includes singing on the bus; throwing a mini-tantrum anywhere; asking random people what their names are) and continues to role-play long after everyone else is done (she can be a doggy for AGES). Joel is like Charlie: he’s very straight; he’s self-conscious; he REALLY doesn’t like dressing up; he feels uncomfortable for Hannah in unnecessarily sensitive ways.
For us, the real rub of this particular Charlie and Lola-esque behaviour (not influenced BY the programme – it was all already there) is that the Greek culture is much more showy and demonstrative than British. Today is a national holiday: Καθαρή Δευτέρα (Katharee Deftera) which means Clean Monday. It’s the last full day before LENT and, for the past three weeks, it’s been CARNIVAL time here. This culminated in both kids’ schools having parties on Friday where they were encouraged to dress up. We weren’t completely clear what the form would be at Joel’s school – whether or not the kids were expected to be dressed up (we might have missed a notice!), so he was dressed in a striped top and normal trousers and we took some pirate accessories (eye-patch, dagger, hook) to add if necessary. Jonathan took him. When they got to school Joel happily took his bag and jumper to his pegs but as he passed the doorway to his classroom he saw that EVERYONE was dressed up in FULL fancy dress regalia. He was slightly freaked by the costumes, the general unfamiliarity of everyone being so excited and looking so strange and worried about the Greek dancing that might happen next and decided that he didn’t want to stay (he claims he would have joined in if there had been British dancing!). He came back exhausted and went to bed for a bit. Hannah, unaware of Joel’s plight, went on to school (again with the pirate accessories). Although happy enough to stay (succumbing to the encouragement of her classmates and teacher), she did NOT want to dress up either. Her teacher had explained that there would be spare costumes at school if she decided that she wanted to join in, so we left her knowing that she would at least enjoy the Clown’s Show later. She had a very nice time but didn’t dress up.
alligator. She goes EVERYWHERE in the alligator costume: the supermarket; the park; the school, even when her outfit produces problems for her. Charlie is completely embarrassed about the whole business. He is nervous on her behalf about what others might think and is sensitive to feelings that she doesn’t actually have. Although Hannah isn’t that keen on dressing up, she is mostly completely herself in any situation (this includes singing on the bus; throwing a mini-tantrum anywhere; asking random people what their names are) and continues to role-play long after everyone else is done (she can be a doggy for AGES). Joel is like Charlie: he’s very straight; he’s self-conscious; he REALLY doesn’t like dressing up; he feels uncomfortable for Hannah in unnecessarily sensitive ways.
For us, the real rub of this particular Charlie and Lola-esque behaviour (not influenced BY the programme – it was all already there) is that the Greek culture is much more showy and demonstrative than British. Today is a national holiday: Καθαρή Δευτέρα (Katharee Deftera) which means Clean Monday. It’s the last full day before LENT and, for the past three weeks, it’s been CARNIVAL time here. This culminated in both kids’ schools having parties on Friday where they were encouraged to dress up. We weren’t completely clear what the form would be at Joel’s school – whether or not the kids were expected to be dressed up (we might have missed a notice!), so he was dressed in a striped top and normal trousers and we took some pirate accessories (eye-patch, dagger, hook) to add if necessary. Jonathan took him. When they got to school Joel happily took his bag and jumper to his pegs but as he passed the doorway to his classroom he saw that EVERYONE was dressed up in FULL fancy dress regalia. He was slightly freaked by the costumes, the general unfamiliarity of everyone being so excited and looking so strange and worried about the Greek dancing that might happen next and decided that he didn’t want to stay (he claims he would have joined in if there had been British dancing!). He came back exhausted and went to bed for a bit. Hannah, unaware of Joel’s plight, went on to school (again with the pirate accessories). Although happy enough to stay (succumbing to the encouragement of her classmates and teacher), she did NOT want to dress up either. Her teacher had explained that there would be spare costumes at school if she decided that she wanted to join in, so we left her knowing that she would at least enjoy the Clown’s Show later. She had a very nice time but didn’t dress up.Even if you’ve never seen the programme, you can tell
by the titles that many strike a chord with us: I Am Not Sleepy And I Will Not Go To Bed, I Like My Hair Completely The Way It Is, I Can Do Anything That’s Everything All On My Own, I Must Take Completely Everything, etc.We appreciate that our children have individual personalities and that they might not always be able to conform to expectations, BUT if anyone does have any tips on how we might be able to encourage Joel to not be so stressed and bothered in these situations we’d love your input! He’s not shy in a ‘normal’ context at all (in fact, he’s quite bold) – as you may have seen from previous blog entries, he just can’t cope with ‘performance’, whether that is standing before a group of people or dressing up as something other than himself. He prefers to be, as he says, “Just Joel”. We’re thinking of instituting some whole Clark family dressing up silliness (photos to follow!), so if anyone has any costumes they no longer need…
PS honestly, our blogs are like the proverbial London Buses: wait AGES for one…
PPS if you want more info on Charlie and Lola, here are a few links:
http://www.charlieandlola.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/charlieandlola/
http://www.charlieandlola.com/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/charlieandlola/
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