candy lesson

Ok, I have been working as a speech therapist for, what, over 6 years now and if there's one thing I've learned it's that kids LOVE M&M's. When I was in TX, I could get a kid to just about anything for one darn piece! And they were brilliant for assessments. So when I moved here, one of the first things I put in my assessment box was a bag of plain M&M's. And I start testing kids. And the M&M's come out. And they look at me like I'm insane. Many of them won't even touch them! What is WRONG with these Irish kids? Turns out, candy is not a universal thing. I've now sadly had to qualify my statement to MOST kids love chocolate. But here, it's not M&M's, it's Buttons. Cadbury Buttons. Picture a flattened Hershey Kiss and then shrink the size and you've got chocolate buttons. I've now had to stock my tool box with those instead.
But they do have something LIKE M&M's here. In my first month of assessments, I came upon this preteen who told me she LOVED Smarties (tell me you picture those rolls of pure colored sugar tablets that you eat last from your Halloween bag). Great! I thought. I've got a few of those from a mixed assortment I picked up for kids who (shudder) don't .... like.... chocolate (did I shudder yet?). So I run to bring some back and the girl looks at me like I'm an alien. But she DID see my tupperware dish of M&M's and have some of those. I'm SO confused! Ok. Turns out that Smarties are the Cadbury (very popular here) version of M&M's, just with harder, more varied and lighter colored sugar shells. AHHHH! I'm finally getting it. Live and learn I suppose. I've even conquered the potato chips are called crisps here conundrum.