In my day, kids earned their treats...

I am sure a lot of other folks out there are like me, with special games and toys from their childhood that just make them nostalgic for being a kid. And nothing says summertime of my childhood like this bad boy:


Were you like me and had a serious love-hate relationship with the Snoopy Sno-Cone Maker? I loved it because of the delicious frozen treats it rewarded you with. Icy, brightly colored, sugary cups of deliciousness. I use the word rewarded because Snoopy made you work your ASS off to make those sno-cones. You had to put ice cubes in and then jam that little snoopy down to push the ice cubes towards the shaver, while simultaneously turning the little shaver tumbler. By the end of the summer, there were 7 year olds walking around with major guns. "Hey Timmy, you been lifting this summer?" "Nah, just hitting the Snoopy Sno-Cone maker every day"

I feel sad that kids today don't have that same experience. Maybe that little sno-cone maker was just a part of cultivating a generation's attitude and work ethic. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying my generation is amazing and everyone's a hard worker and a great citizen. But I can tell you this, we are better off than kids today because they are getting pampered with this nonsense:


Seriously? A Dairy Queen at-home Blizzard Maker? This is just another thing wrong with kids today and it is adding to their overwhelming sense of entitlement. When I was little DQ was a treat -- your parents took you after little league or soccer. It wasn't a kitchen gadget that spat out free treats for you anytime you wanted it.

Look how freaking happy those kids on the box are. No chance they had to go through the rigorous physical labor to produce those ice cream treats like we had to endure to end up with one little sno-cone. You saw a little kid passed out, with jacked up arms and a permanently blue-stained mouth, and you knew he had put in a hard day cranking out some Snoopy sno-cones for him and his pals.

Ah, I miss those days.

Question from a Non-Mom

Back in March, I had a really great day… great mostly because I left work at an actual normal/decent time. I got to see this thing everyone had been raving about enjoying after work these days — daylight. I mean, daylight savings time or not, it is usually DARK when I finally get around to leaving work each day. Anyway, it was great and lived up to the hype. I was also in a good mood because my roommate was itching to go out for St. Patty’s and I was happy that I was getting out of work at a time that would allow me to join in the fun. We ended up celebrating at an Mexican restaurant where I was likely the most Irish person there, but we did order guacamole as something green to mark the holiday.


Anyway, coming back from work, I exited at my end metro stop, buoyed by the daylight, the promise of fun times and a solid series of good songs from my ipod’s shuffle selection. That all came to a halt when I crossed the street and saw something so disturbing to me I could not turn away. There is a little rotunda by the metro exit -- I guess you could call it a rotunda….a few benches on the perimeter and a circle of grass with a tree in the middle, raised up a bit and surrounded by some decorative stonework. In the middle of this grassy patch is a woman with a young girl (about 2 maybe?) The woman is literally yanking this little girl’s pants off and motioning how she should squat down so she could pee. Basically a plie in second position for those of you former ballet students.


I was appalled by this — is this normal mommy behavior? I could see this maybe on the side of I-95 if your child has to G-O and can’t hold in until you can pull off at a rest stop or something. But this is a public place, a completely open space with high pedestrian traffic…and there are a Potbelly’s and a Cosi about 50 feet behind her! Could you not just tuck the kid under your arm like a football and make haste for one of those places? Is this some freak thing that as a non-mom I cannot understand? Seriously, a week after, and even months later I am still completely weirded out by this situation. I don’t think this girl needs to learn the “I can pee anywhere” skill until she is at least in high school and living in suburbia where kids drink out in the woods. Not that I ever did that of course :)