What Kind of Backwards Thinking Requires a Kid Celebrating a Birthday to Have to Buy All The Other Kids Treats?
When I was a little kid I really looked forward to birthdays. Today...not so much. Since I have an April birthday I would often celebrate my birthday in elementary school with my classmates.
Birthdays are a big deal. Walk into any grade school today and chances are you will hear a birthday song playing in some classroom.
For some reason it has become a tradition here in the U-S-of-A that if you are a kid with a birthday it is expected that you will be prepared to bring forth some sort of treat to bestow on everyone else who, by the way, are not having a birthday. It's un-American!
It's kind of like getting a hole-in-one in golf. For some reason you have to buy everyone else drinks. I'm not sure who started either one of these backward celebratory practices.
I thought somewhere back in caveman time that as a society we agreed that the wheel is good, wooly mammoth tastes good with a sprinkle of saffron, and everyone should buy YOU stuff on YOUR birthday?
Some schools are banning this "Food Extortion". But if we are going to accept it as the law-of-the-land, why doesn't this extend to our workplace? One of our office goddesses, Beth Saulsberry, is having a birthday. How come she doesn't have to bring a cake, or treats, or a dish-to-pass?
I asked Beth & Patty Dee about what they remembered about their grade school treat obligations and celebrations. Apparently in Kansas sandwiches were among the preferred birthday treats. What did you do as a kid celebrating a birthday? What do your kids do?