Kindergarden East Germany

Today I have written a passage about my time in Kindergarden (or nursery school in England?) for my autobiographical book. 



Almost every child in East Germany went to Kindergarden. It was cheap, and as almost every parent (dads and mums) worked, this system of all-encompassing childcare was necessary. I started quite late - aged 5 - as I was looked after by my grandmother, but my mum decided I needed some socialisation with other children before starting school.

I hated Kindergarden! I didn’t like the Kindergarden teachers and one particularly stuck in my mind who got very vocal with me when I didn’t want to eat the food that was being served to us. I found the black pudding revolting, and still hate it to this day. I did tell mum that the teacher slapped my on my fingers and I was obviously very upset about it, as I did not receive this kind of punishment from my parents. Unthinkable now for a teacher to physically chastise children. I was also not used to playing with other children, and sports games were a particular nightmare. I was never good at any of it, and felt embarrassed, and didn’t understand why I just couldn’t do it. I was always the slowest - even though I was not overweigh. I never caught the ball, never managed to jump in the right direction and was generally very dyspraxic. Also, from an early age I hated the competitiveness. Not that I would have known any of this, nor my mum would have recognised it. And for the Kindergarden teachers - well, they didn’t have time nor was it their duty to develop and nurture individuals. I developed a deep hatred of anything relating to sport from this age on. 

For some reason, I remember a particular incident in Kindergarden when a game was played. No idea why this has stuck in my memory, but this is the first thing which comes up when I remember my Kindergarden days. All the children had to stand in a circle, and the teachers shouted a month of the year out. When your birthday month was shouted out, you were supposed to be going into the middle of the circle. So, that is not a difficult game, and does not even involve any competitiveness, so what was the problem? I did not know my birth months. I did not even know what ‘months’ were, and January, February etc didn’t mean a thing to me. I was so horribly embarrassed for not knowing this, and just remained stumm. I decided that at some stage, I shall just go into the middle of the circle and hope that no-one notices. That is what I did, and that is actually already the end of this little episode. No, no one noticed, and I didn’t get pulled up on it. But for some reason, the internal embarrassment I felt just stuck. 

Reasons to write your life story

Thinking of writing an autobiography? Your life story?

Let's  think about the reasons for embarking on such project. 


1. Something for your family / friends to remember you

This is probably one of the commonest reasons. Maybe your family has even ask you to write your life story down. And/or you feel that you have something interesting to tell. 

Just imagine if you could read a book / life story written by your grandmother. I would love to read something like that. 



2. To remember a special time or special person in your life

Maybe you grew up or lived in abroad and would like to tell your experience. Or when were in Uni, or moved out, bought your first house etc. 

Maybe you would like to write about a special person in your life (alive or deceased) who meant a lot to you, this could be a life partner, a child, a parent, a friend.



3. You like writing 

You always liked writing, and this may be a good starting point. Write about the subject you know - yourself.



4.  Writing about a particular period in history

Wartime stories are usually very popular. For me this was probably the deciding factor in starting to write. I grew up in East Germany and was in Berlin the night the wall fell. The country of East Germany does not exist any more and my children will never experience it. I feel I would like to preserve a bit to them.  


5. Geneology

You have probably seen the popular TV programs (Who do you think you are) and genealogy is an increasingly common pastime. Maybe that has inspired you to write about something you discovered. And anyone who ever dabbled in genealogy knows that there is always something to be discovered. 


6. A business story

Not too common and I came across this whilst doing some research for this post. Either you have your own business, or are a partner and employee and want to write the story of your business or have been asked to write about your business



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For me, it is probably a combination of almost all of those (apart from No. 6)



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There are probably many more reasons why you may decide to put pen to paper. However, a word of caution. The following two reasons scream danger ... danger ... danger


1. Revenge

Husband had an affair and you want to set the record straight? Your friend betrayed you, family money problems over a bereavement.... the reasons are varied as to why you might feel upset and angry with certain people in your life. But careful.... Libel is not only a legal term, but the whole issue could potentially get more and more upsetting. 


2. Money

Ahm, honestly? Unless you are a celebrity, no-one will want to pay to read your life story. Unless you are very lucky and you have something really extraordinary to tell. 

this is, of course, not to say that you should not maybe try to publish your story and who knows... maybe you will sell copies. But money should probably not be your first motivation.