I hate piñatas. We spend years teaching our kids that nothing good can come of hitting, and then we hand them a stick and tell them to whack something really hard for CANDY! There are always a few kids who are terrified of the whole ordeal (as well they should be) and a few who take it altogether too seriously. Then, when the darn thing finally breaks, there's a veritable frenzy of kids pushing and shoving and trying to hoard as much candy and plastic novelty items as possible. The new-style piñatas with the pull-ribbons get rid of the smacking problem but still encourage the hoarding. So Pete recently went to a party where the piñata was an American soldier. How many chilling images of Abu Ghraib went through my mind as the kids took turns whacking the soldier until his head popped off? I can understand the soldier-themed goodie-bag items, but a piñata? Really, really bad taste.
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February 13, 2005
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That IS truly horrible. I do think that good taste has gone out the window in our culture lately.
Posted by: Margaret | February 13, 2005 at 10:24 PM
Reminds me of the American flag door mat I heard Wil Wheaton going on about a while back.
Posted by: Scott D. Feldstein | February 13, 2005 at 11:42 PM
Dave Barry did a hilarious column on this very thing (with his 4-year-old daughter in the midst of all the birthday upheavel). The pinatas rarely break open with the initial wacks, so he painted this picture of this 4-year-old girl-frenzy wacking the total crap out of the thing with the parents standing back looking uncomfortable. As they well should.
Posted by: Tonya | February 14, 2005 at 01:16 AM
I've never thought of it that way, but good point.
But now I want a Dubya pinata for _my_ birthday! I am so sick.
Posted by: votermom | February 14, 2005 at 01:24 PM
I agree with you completely--it always seemed like exactly the opposite of everything we teach our kids each day, and even though pinatas are a part of the kidlet's heritage, I still don't want one for his parties, and I cringe when it's part of someone else's.
Posted by: nina | February 14, 2005 at 02:40 PM
You might like this website, it really validates your opinions:
http://www.downwithpinatas.com/category/instead-of-a-pinata/
Posted by: Ted | December 01, 2008 at 11:03 AM