A real treat for kids
Happy Pear founders Dave and StephenFlynn present a range of healthy (and fun) dishes your children will just love
NOT content with cornering the market on microgreens and living sprouts, Happy Pear identical twins Stephen and Dave Flynn, 38, have thrown their weight behind a unique new festival for children.
Playstival, taking place in Airfield Farm, Dundrum, Dublin 14, on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th of August, celebrates old-style play for children in a high-tech age.
‘It’s the first festival of its kind in Ireland and the whole philosophy behind it is to be the antithesis of screen time,’ says father-of-three Stephen, who co-owns with David the Happy Pear shop and restaurant in Greystones, Co Wicklow. Their brand includes everything from cookery classes and award-winning cookbooks and food produce to ‘happiness hampers’ of healthy goodies.
‘With the proliferation of screens our lives have become so digital and kids playing on iPads seems to be the norm. But we want to reconnect children with their imaginations instead of just being passively engaged with a screen. Play and interacting with our imaginations is so important and screens tend not to support this,’ he complains.
‘My wife Justyna is a clinical psychologist and all the research suggests that the leading cause of disease in the west is loneliness and depression. This is linked to the amount of time people are on screens not relating to other humans. We need festivals like Playstival – and Airfield is a really cool urban farm. You can pick fine beans, it’s a beautiful setting, a great celebration. I’m pumped!’
His three children with his Polish wife are May, 7, Theo, 5 and Ned, 23 months, who ‘watch half an hour of Polish cartoons a day. We’re not rigid, we try to manage it and make sure they spend most of their time outside. They get very limited screen time and it’s quite monitored.’
Playstival showcases eight themed play universes built by French company Festijeux who are passionate about positive play and the power of the imagination. These universes feature tactile wooden games and include a park train service, kids’ construction site, architects area and the wild, wild west.
THE Play Universes vary in age-range suitability, from 18 months to 12 years – and trained supervisors are on hand. ‘We’ll be there, too, cooking. Face paint, handstands, full throttle!’ adds Stephen.
Aside from encouraging parents to play outdoors with our kids, Stephen recommends getting them involved in the kitchen.
‘This morning May cooked rhubarb compote for the porridge, Theo carmelised bananas in the pan and Ned was stirring the porridge. The more involved they are the more excited they will be to eat it.’
While appreciating that modern parents are time-poor he recommends having shared family meals. The Flynns have ‘family brekkie and dinner with no phone at the table’. Though Stephen has been vegan for 16 years, the children are not being raised vegan.All the same ‘They only know our version of chicken nuggets’ he admits, of the twins’ vegan recipe.
‘We experimented with that recipe as we wanted a similar mouth-feel and similar taste [to real chicken nuggets]. We did ten or 20 different versions until we got it just right.’
To be sure his kids are getting enough greens he makes a green smoothie with kale, frozen banana, avocado, cucumber, spirulina, goji berries and flax seeds on oat milk or coconut water and ‘the kids have to drink it. If they want home-made pizza they can have the pizza if they drink the green smoothie.’
Energy balls are another kid-friendly recipe. But do children really need any more energy than they already have?! ‘My kids are lunatics, they’re wild – and Theo loves them,’ says Stephen, who does all the cooking at home.
Now the whole family is preparing for Playstival. ‘It’s the very first yer and we reckon we will have 15,000 people. It’s rare for a festival to go from zero to 15,000. Let’s go and have fun!’
Playstival with The Happy Pear is on August 11-12 and is organised by Emergent Events, the team behind Laya Healthcare City Spectacular. In addition to Airfield Estate’s eateries, The Happy Pear will offer their own fare all weekend, and Dave and Steve will be running two cooking demos each day. Visit playstival.ie.