Pinatas: A Bad Idea for Your Child's Party?

[The Straight Story]

Pinatas: A Bad Idea for Your Child's Party?

Vanessa Bartlemus, Yahoo! Contributor Network

A blindfolded child is let up to some poor helpless papier-mâché animal hanging off a tree by a string. They have a stick or a bat in their hand, and they proceed to whack the animal with all their might. Other children are cheering on the fight. When the piñata is broken open, candy spills out. Everyone rushes to grab as much candy as they can. It's every kid for them self.

Doesn't sound like such a good party game when it's put like that, huh?

Piñatas are not a good idea for your child's party. Children should never hit anything with a stick. Even worse, kids can get piñatas in their favorite character too. Doesn't anyone slightly cringe at the thought of their child whacking Dora the Explorer or Elmo around with a baseball bat? What is that doing for a child's character? Getting a flower or car piñata is only slightly less worse.

People carefully teach their children, from the first time they playfully hit as a baby, that hitting is wrong. They don't allow hitting in their family and they don't spank. But then children are allowed to hit piñatas to the breaking point. Then they get candy; they are rewarded for violent behavior!

..


So what are some better alternatives? There are now pull-string piñatas...which get rid of the hitting element. Your child pulls a string and the contents of the piñata fall out. That way, your child can have the experience of having a piñata at their party, without the violence.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5550034/pinatas_a_bad_idea_for_your_childs.html?cat=25

[Hannah Bell]

1. unrec for stupid political correctness that kills everything fun & kills tradition.

[MicaelS]

2. Agree with you 100% n/t

[dbackjon]

4. Ditto...

[Terry_M]

13. Same here.

I'm sure given the point of view expressed in the original post, one could find some way that just about every activity is 'bad' for kids for some reason.

Isn't teaching about the big bang a bad thing?
I mean there's the word bang.. That's obviously wrong.
It's also teaching that explosions are a good thing - I mean it's a giant explosion that eventually lead to life. We don't want to teach kids that explosions lead to good things happening.

[pipi_k]

90. No shit!!!

Kids can't eat raw cake batter or raw cookie dough anymore...

No riding their bikes unless they're wearing a suit of armor.

"Don't eat the dirt!!!"

"Put that worm down!!! You don't know where it's been!"

Little to no unstructured playtime, as far as I can tell. "Play dates"... blech


I had a hell of a lot more fun when I was a kid...

[cali]

23. hear, hear!

my kid had a rough and tumble childhood (not that I consider pinatas part of a rough and tumble childhood) and I think he's all the better for it. From the time he was 5 or 6, I regularly booted him out of the house to play for hours outside. He was chopping kindling by the age of 8, out cross country skiing by 6, helping in the garden at a younger age than that- and he loved it, most of it anyway. And yes, he had pinatas at birthday parties. I thought it was fun as hell to watch the kids go for it.

[FLPanhandle]

31. I agree.

[blueamy66]

34. I agree too.

Growing up in AZ with alot of Hispanic friends...this was and is a tradition.

Geez, what else are they gonna take away from us?

Kids shouldn't hit anything with a stick? How about a ball?

[WillowTree]

36. Agreed

[Arkansas Granny]

38. I agree. Surely this person is not serious.

[WatsonT]

41. Whoa whoa . . . "stupid", "kills"?

Those are some pretty harsh words. Mellow out. It's "intellectually challenged" and "effect a mortal transition".


Did your parents force you to "kill" a poor little pinata as a child?

[Countdown_3_2_1]

89. Yes. This is silly PC crap. nt

[Modern_Matthew]

108. Yes. This is where I differ with liberals. I just don't give a damn about things like this. nt

[Bluebear]

120. 'I differ with liberals' - what are you?

[Bluebear]

117. "political correctness" = right wing term beneath you.

IMO. Whilst agreeing with your general point!

[Hannah Bell]

119. i agree it's a right-wing term, but i don't know a better one to describe the general phenomenon,

which i think is a real one.

though sometimes i think some of these issues are actually planted by the right to make the left look silly or to start the ball rolling for fascist moves down the road. using "useful idiots" who think they're being trendy to actually move the play to the right.

[immoderate]

3. "Children should never hit anything with a stick."

Bot baseboll bin berry good to me.

--imm

[crickets]

58. Chico!

:thumbsup:

[Vanje]

5. Fill the Pinatas with easter eggs , RAW easter eggs.

That'll show those bad ol kids.

[MadHound]

6. Arrgh!

Guess I was damaged as a kid then, yet look how I turned out.

Kids shouldn't hit anything with a stick? So much for baseball and croquet.

Wonder what these idiots would think about the sword fights I had with other kids using *gasp* sticks.

This sort of shit is why people get pissed off at political correctness.

[Arkana]

7. Oh for crying out loud.

Should we ban baseball then? After all, that involves hitting a little white ball with a stick!

Or golf, perhaps! The poor little white ball is even more small and defenseless!

[Gemini Cat]

15. They can take my baseball bat out of my cold dead hands.

Even then I'll probably not let it go.

[blondeatlast]

8. Good grief. nt

[The Second Stone]

9. This looks like a freeper trying to mock Dems

What a load.

[JackRiddler]

93. Yes. Exactly my thought.

[UndertheOcean]

10. ..

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. Oh, fer cripes sake.

"Children should never hit anything with a stick." That pretty much rules out baseball, doesn't it? Or badminton. They're hitting birdies with a stick, oh noes!

What fun is a pinata with a pull string?

Somebody needs to hit this ninny with a stick. But maybe just a nerf baseball bat, so as not to be violent.

[petronius]

12. I hope nobody ever tells her about pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey

:scared:

I really can't imagine anything sadder than a pull-string pinata - except maybe the expression on the birthday kid's face as he realizes the lifetime of friendless ridicule that awaits him... :(

[Lefta Dissenter]

19. I'm torn

between 'unrec'ing the thread because of the stupid PCness, and 'rec'ing it for your "pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey" response. :dilemma:

[TheManInTheMac]

80. In her case it would be

pin the tail on the dumb-ass.

[Gemini Cat]

14. Make the stupid go away.

I thought this was from the Onion, but sadly it was not.

There are probably people out there that would defend this silliness, which is even more sad.

[denbot]

16. Un Rec..

Teh stupid, it burns..

[lies and propaganda]

17. PFFFFFFFFFFFFT.. racist horseshit, imho

now lets talk about the dangers of things associated with 'white kid parties.'

[JoePhilly]

109. Like pin the tail on the Donkey!!!

Just who cut off his tail!!

And using pins to stick it back on ... yikes!!

[fishwax]

18. lol -- that's really silly

as someone upthread said, it seems like a freeper engaged in mockery ...

[Thunderstruck]

20. Suddenly pinatas are too dangerous for our children? Really? After what

must be hundreds of years of tradition? Now? Suddenly?

Give me a fucking break!

[KittyWampus]

106. Backlash for the War on Easter/Christmas

[madinmaryland]

21. Cigarettes: A Bad Idea for Your Child's Party?

Just saying.

Get 'em hooked early to piñatas!!

[DCKit]

22. And Booze. Don't forget the booze. nt

[brooklynite]

35. The biggest problem with Pinatas...

is that, today, nobody bothers to make them out of paper mache anymore--too time consuming and expensive. So the pinatas sold at party store are made out of cardboard, which is actually very hard to break open.

[blondeatlast]

51. I'd go along with that part--making pinatas out of old newspaper

and tempura paint was a BLAST when I was a kid.

[WolverineDG]

53. I never had one made out of paper mache

Balsa wood, newspaper, & colored tissue paper---that's how they make pinatas down here.

BTW, originally, pinatas were made out of clay. Imagine how hard on the noggin clay shards would be.


dg

[surrealAmerican]

64. When my kids were small, we made our own out of ...

... paper mache: they were always a bit too sturdy. Actually, making them was a big part of the fun.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. This lady should write for the Onion.

Classic.

[chemp]

25. teaches kids that beating a small animal will produce candy

:sarcasm:
then they start swinging at the neighbor's dog looking for that sugar rush!
:sarcasm:

[johnroshan]

26. I thought DU was better than this.. Such rude responses.

The woman was merely expressing her opinion and the OP certainly felt it was legitimate. Disagreements can be expressed in polite ways. This is more like a 6 yo saying "You're Stoopid.. Duh!!11!"

[cali]

27. oh for pity's sake.

this is a discussion forum, not an etiquette forum. its rough and tumble by definition. no one is shrieking for her head on a stick.

[johnroshan]

30. Well, I think its not polite to call someone stupid even in a discussion forum.

I think it moves the discussion to the participants personal characteristics rather than the issue or opinion at hand.

[blueamy66]

40. No, she is stupid.

She needs to expand her world.

She needs to come to AZ and attend one of my friends' kids' bday parties. She can have some carne asada, a Tecate and watch the kids laugh with glee when it's time for the pinata.

I hope that she wraps her daughter in bubble wrap for the rest of her life.

[blondeatlast]

54. Negra Modelo--but otherwise, I agree! ;) nt

[blueamy66]

65. Okay...sorry

:-)

[cali]

42. she's not a participant in the discussion.

[Warren Stupidity]

104. good point

[johnroshan]

118. Thank you for making my point.

If I expressed my opinion (which I thought was valid enough to post on a supposedly civil forum) and ended up having my intelligence and mental capabilities derided, I sure would not be inclined to post again. When I joined DU, I saw a certain level of maturity and civility, which sadly is declining with ad hominems flying here and there and general bullying.

[Iggo]

48. Fuck polite.

Stupid premise elicits rude response.

[blondeatlast]

52. Bet you're fun at parties--coming into people's homes

and telling them how they are supposed to behave.

[TheManInTheMac]

83. Her article sets the standard for stupid.

Why should we not reply as such. A position that deserves discussion and consideration will receive a higher ratio of such to derision.

[johnroshan]

115. An article, premise or opinion

if derided as being stupid or dumb doesn't really affect anything. However, making such remarks on a person, no matter how dumb you think he/she is, is impolite and a characteristic of middle-school bullying at most.

[Supply Side Jesus]

67. oh, piss up a rope....

}( :rofl:

[petronius]

75. You better not get any of that pee on the pinata

Else I'll violently whack you with this handy stick (as I learned to do back at my childhood birthday parties)...

:)

[MrScorpio]

96. Not every opinion in this world is legit

I'll respect this world a lot more if people properly called out more utter bullshit like this.

[Warren Stupidity]

103. trust me on this: the OP is absolutely delighted at the response

[Posteritatis]

116. Sometimes "You're Stoopid.. Duh!!11!" is the appropriate response. (nt)

[BlueMTexpat]

28. I disagree with the premise here.

But the writer is apparently not alone in her belief.

If you really want to see writing worthy of The Onion, this will provide plenty of fodder. http://www.downwithpinatas.com/

It sounds if some parents really need to discuss boundaries with their children.

[blondeatlast]

56. Well, if Dave Barry is agin' 'em, so am I.

That site is great!

[KittyWampus]

107. Dave Barry an old favorite. I have to post an excerpt:

The perils of pinatas


BY DAVE BARRY

(This classic Dave Barry column was originally published Oct. 26, 2003.)

Iraqi weapons of mass destruction: Did they, in fact, exist? If so, will they ever be found?
Beats me. Now that I've cleared that up, I'd like to devote what little space I have left to the issue of pinata safety.

snip


But getting back to the party, Grumpy the Clown was recalling the first birthday party she worked:
'They had a pinata, and it fell down and hit the birthday boy and gave him a big cut over his eye. There was blood everywhere. We were singing `Happy Birthday' and he was on his way to the emergency room.''
This reminded another parent of a party where there was no tree they could hang the pinata from, so he volunteered to hold the pinata, dangling it from a string in his hand, and needless to say the birthday boy, who was blindfolded, nailed him in the ribs with the stick.''It hurt to breathe for a week,'' he said.

This is why many parents go for the ''safety'' pinata, which has a trapdoor with strings hanging down. The children grab the strings, and on the count of three they all give a yank, and ... nothing happens!
Because this type of pinata is also virtually impregnable. The Pinata Security Task Force has seen to that.
So a parent has to yank the trapdoor open, releasing a cascade of candy and cheesy toys. This is when things get really violent, as the children -- who own literally billions of much nicer toys -- dive to the ground in a life-or-death struggle for items they will immediately lose.

This struggle is especially brutal for the smaller children, because there's always one unusually large male child -- a child who drove himself to the birthday party; a child under contract to the Pittsburgh Steelers -- who winds up with most of the loot. If you ask me, this is just plain wrong, and something needs to be done about it, just as soon as we get the situation squared away in Iraq.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/06/14/1076168/the-perils-of-pinatas.html#ixzz1KTIdzPOd

[fishwax]

70. hehe -- Every 47 minutes there is another incidence of pinata violence

[dems_rightnow]

29. When kids start hanging their siblings

from a tree and beating them with sticks looking for candy, I am on board, Until then.... not so much.

[Brickbat]

32. Oh God, are we seriously linking to Associated Content now?

[FormerDittoHead]

33. Oh my GOD! My boy just BIT THE HEAD OFF A CHOCOLATE RABBIT!!!

What's next? The SPCPMA? Society for the prevention of cruelty to papier-mâché animals?

[eowyn_of_rohan]

43. LOL

:rofl:

[Yo_Mama]

37. And I guess we should not let them watch sports on TV either.

Much less (shudder) allow them to engage in kickball, dodgeball, soccer, softball, baseball, golf, volleyball....

I'll tell you what. Why not get back to us with a list of approved activities for kids.

This is an advertisement for a product.

[krispos42]

39. The piñata is not alive. Ergo, hitting it is not objectionable.

Except of course, to people that want to stamp out all symbols of violence everywhere.

[Iggo]

47. Then they better cut that hippie dude down off that cross.

I suppose they're gonna have to take the cross down, too. You know, for consistency.

[TheManInTheMac]

84. Oh, you mean you're not supposed to use a real animal?

That explains a LOT!

[tammywammy]

44. Piñatas are good for every party.

I whacked a few piñatas in my time, I seem to be okay. :)

[Iggo]

45. Oh my.

:rofl:

[MiddleFingerMom]

46. "Whacking the pinata with all my might"...

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...I'll be in my bunk.
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Won't SOMEBODY please think of the pinatas?
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[rhiannon55]

49. Okay. I'm obviously STOOPID

because I agree with the writer. I once watched my granddaughter and her party guests whack Dora in the face until it broke apart and it disturbed me greatly. I have bought piñatas since then (for other grandchildren's parties)and I will only buy the kind with the pull-ribbons.

I am extremely disturbed by unnecessary violence, even symbolic violence.

If that makes me stupid, so be it.

[WolverineDG]

55. They weren't "whacking" Dora in the face

they were going at a pinata to get the candy.

dg

[Iggo]

59. I think you're reading more into it than the kids are.

They don't see it as destroying some being and eating its innards.

They see it as breaking into a package of candy...and getting some candy.

And they're right.

[blueamy66]

105. The parents chose Dora because the child was a Dora fan

The kids just want at the candy.

[WolverineDG]

50. Well

:wtf:

It's not a birthday party without a pinata, dammit!!! What next? Banning "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" because it encourages animal abuse?

:eyes:

dg

[pipi_k]

57. I have no problem with...

kids whacking the shit out of Dora the Explorer. She's an annoying little shit and I'd like to poke her candy loaded guts out myself.

What I do have a problem with is a blindfolded kid swinging a stick around and nobody paying attention to the smaller kids who might stand too closely and end up being injured.

That nearly happened at a niece's birthday party, and it was scary.


Otherwise...poo...

there's a difference between hitting a paper cartoon character and a real person, and parents can explain the difference to their kids. Special activity for birthday party...no hitting with sticks at any other time.


Was there the same outcry over pin the tail on the donkey? OMG!!! Kids might not know it's wrong to pin paper tails on farm animals!

:eyes:

[a la izquierda]

62. And pin the tail is a heck of a lot more dangerous...

try pinning a paper tail on a donkey or a cow, and a kid is going to get kicked to the next county.
Sheesh...every time I think it's official, that this country has totally lost its collective mind, a story like this comes along and makes me realize I jumped the gun on my previous assessment.

[BoWanZi]

60. I think the idea of an Elmo pinata is awesome and would love to see one beaten to death by a kid

:)

(thread unrecced)

[pipi_k]

85. Remember "Tickle Me Elmo"?

I wanted to tickle one until it laughed itself to death.

:7

[ceile]

61. Facepalm.

[nolabear]

63. And WHO will speak for that poor Donkey? WHO?

Having kids shove a pin in your backside is a cruel, cruel fate.

[pipi_k]

86. Death by a thousand pinpricks...it's not pretty sight...

:cry:

[Recovered Repug]

66. So what am I supposed to do with my plethora of pinatas?nt

[pipi_k]

87. I suggest holding a telethon, then opening a pinata zoo... n/t

[BobbyBoring]

68. I heard Obama pinatas are popular in the south

[dionysus]

69. oh for crying out loud, that's just ridiculous.

[undeterred]

71. Ok, What about Pin theTail on the Donkey?

Isn't this just asking for trouble? Or is this game already forgotten anyway?

[RandomThoughts]

72. There is a long story to the bat. Will post it another time.

[blondeatlast]

77. after you receive the beer and travel money? nt

[RandomThoughts]

82. No that is not relevant to when or what I post.

Either before or after the beer and travel money arrives. That is a something that is due, is not connected to anything I do.

[BobbyBoring]

73. One year, for my 8th or 9th B Day

I got a Cub Scout pocket knife. I decided it would be fun to pop some of the nice balloons with my new knife. I popped a few and then somehow, my knife found it's way into this girls arm. Right smack in that artery that runs through the inner part of the elbow, whatever that's called. Blood was spurting everywhere and the girls mother fainted and hit her head on a table causing more blood to flow.

A pinata might have been better for all involved~

[meow mix]

74. pinata are dangerous!!!!! (proof)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1wUYN3s_S0
:rofl:

[Throd]

76. First they came for the pinatas...

But I didn't speak up as I wasn't made of cardboard filled with candy.

[Dappleganger]

78. Seriously?

We never spanked but when our kids were little they nearly always had a stick in their hands outside and were beating or poking something inanimate.

[TheManInTheMac]

79. Wow!

Teh crazy is strong with this one.

[alfredo]

81. Give the kid a machete. It makes it more exciting by having a

blindfolded six year old jacked up on sweets, swinging a deadly knife.

[pipi_k]

88. Add a few cans of Red Bull and you've got yourself a party! n/t

[alfredo]

101. Ha!

[TheKentuckian]

91. The lameness is strong with that one.

An existence relentless in the pursuit of all encompassing boredom and mortal sterility.

Secular puritan.

[JackRiddler]

92. Baseball should be banned for the same reason. Hammers too.

What idiot wrote the above?

Is it a stealth device to create talking points for right-wing e-mails decrying liberal indoctrination, etc.?

The only thing that might be wrong with a pinata would be if the candy was too unhealthy.

[Cleita]

94. It's a tradition started in Mexico.

Is it because it's Mexican? How about pin the tail on the donkey? A child is blindfolded, given a sharp object and told to go pin it on a picture of a donkey. How is that different? Oh, it's a game American children play.

[MrScorpio]

95. Yeah, this is terribly PC

Kids hit things with sticks: Balls, trees, piñatas, whatever…

Just as long as they're not hitting other people, they're property or animals, just let them have their fun.

[sakabatou]

97. Way too PC

[Moondog]

98. Sigh. Let kids be kids. They'll have to tolerate PC BS soon enough.

:thumbsdown:

[Recovered Repug]

99. Whacking the pinata.

Is that like choking the chicken?

[Ultraviolet Cat]

100. I wouldn't get my kids a piñata . . .

I would avoid piñatas at all costs -- mainly because I have watched far too many episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos where some poor fool gets whacked in the groin by the blindfolded birthday child. "No piñatas" is the number one lesson from that show (number two is "There is no creative use of a trampoline that doesn't end badly").

[devilgrrl]

102. I loved pinatas when I was a kid - in fact, there weren't enough of them!

:-(

[lumberjack_jeff]

110. It's not such a good idea at a 21st birthday party.

Inebriants should not be trusted with baseball bats, and liquor bottles - even little plastic ones, are no match for a baseball bat wielded by a drunk.

Sadly, yes. This is based on first hand knowledge.

[Odin2005]

111. Oh for FUCKS SAKE!!! This is moronic.

This is no different than the "don't let kids play with toy guns" crap.

[TheCanadianLiberal]

112. I agree with the article...

I knew a kid who always got a pinyata for his birthday and he is now in jail for killing 3 people. Coincidence? I think not!


Lets just teach kids it's okay to hit things with a bat. Soon they'll be doing it to other people, there ex's cars, stop signs, etc.


I've said for years these evil "toys" were a bad thing. As a kid (about 4) I was quite disterbed because my father jokingly told me they were killing the character the pinyatta was made into.

I say we ban them.

[xmas74]

113. Stupid pull strings don't work.

We tried and ended up whacking it with a baseball bat.

Associated Content will publish anything.

[ZombieHorde]

114. I wish I wrote this article as a joke. It is kind of funny. nt