A big storm’s a-comin’, says the weatherman, pointing to a white map.
Here in New Jersey, we’re expecting at least six inches of the fluffy stuff by tomorrow. My eleven-year-old neighbor began dancing in front of my fridge and told me about her snow day superstitions: silly but important steps she must take to ensure a snow day tomorrow.
She wears her pajamas inside-out.
Sleeps with a big spoon under her pillow.
Flushes one ice cube down the toilet for each inch of snow she wants.
Eats ice cream.
And dances beside the Frigidaire.
She swears “everyone” does this. At first I wasn’t sure if “everyone” referred to her sixth-grade friends or the rest of the school-age country. Have these snow day superstitions made their way across America, much like the Mikey-of-Life-Cereal Pop Rocks and Diet Coke rumor of my youth?
Yes, they have! Darn it, because I thought this was a charming idea for a picture book. Alas, it’s already been written. Check out “Snow Day Dance” by author/illustrator Will Hubbell.
According to my young friend, the final snow day superstition is to say a prayer before bed, so I wrote one for her…and for the rest of the kids in America who are wishing hard for a day off.
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray for snow twelve inches deep.
Should it melt before I wake,
I pray school’s canceled by mistake!
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 
5 comments
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December 18, 2008 at 11:02 pm
leafless
“I pray school’s cancelled by mistake!”
🙂 🙂
December 20, 2008 at 9:06 am
Christine
The three kids in my house do all of those rituals. Specifically, they dance the hokey pokey in front of the fridge. The process takes quite awhile before bed. I dare not show them your prayer, cute as it is, or it’ll take them even longer to get to bed when snow is predicted. BTW, we got 7 inches here in northern NJ yesterday.
March 1, 2009 at 8:22 pm
ian
heyy this is just the website i was looking for thanks for the ideas i am gonna do all i can for it to snow enough tomorrow. i wish i looked at this in december, it might have made a difference in our “no snow streak”. thanks again
January 1, 2010 at 4:24 am
alaina
I know I’m a bit late on this, but one tradition I picked up from my 6th grade teacher was making paper snowflakes and hanging them in the window the night you want a snowstorm. The more the better!
February 17, 2010 at 6:58 pm
brianna
What I do for a snowday is I run around the house 5 times,I wear my pj pants inside out,Iflush ice cubes down the toilet,I sleep with a spoon under my pillow,and sometimes not all the time I pray to god and take off my hat and pray for a snowday!!!!