Sing it for us?

The only song I know that it could be is "Julie's Blanket," by Mary's Danish. But I'm thinking that's not it.

OK, you do not want that, for sure, but here are the lyrics:

http://www.lyricsdownload.com/sesame...et-lyrics.html

I don't know if there is any sound on that site because I'm on the sound-free circa 1999 computer since I nuked the regular one and the new one is in a box next to me that seems like a hassle to set up right now.

Is it just a catchy tune or is it something else?

Not quite right?
 

I just learned, from newly 6 year old Ruth Bader Ramone, that her new kindergarten teacher (woman, 50-ish, great reputation) offers birthday spankings to the kids in her class. Having had her birthday the week before school started, my daughter gladly accepted hers, and thought it was very funny.

I had kind of forgotten about the whole birthday spanking tradition. And this seems, to me, an odd thing. Am I wrong to feel a bit uncomfortable with it?

Not quite right?
 

I'm not sure I ever knew of it, but it seems doubly odd.

Even if you believe in corporal punishment, isn't its purpose diluted if it's also done in jest or for fun?

Not quite right?
 

No, you are not wrong. I have never heard of such a thing.

Not quite right?
 

I'm surprised that this "tradition" has survived in public(?) school. I don't think it's a big deal in this instance (tho uncomfortable, true), but I also think that it has always made for a somewhat awkward situation if any given kid objects to it, then they're set up with an undeserved label by the rest of the class who find it "fun".

Not quite right?
 

That's an odd tradition, though kind of sad that a completely fine, fun, silly thing for the kids is probably not something a good portion of parents would want going on, if for no other reason than to err on the side of conservatism. Playful or not, people (we parents, and eveyrone else) have become so suspicious about things (with maybe some good reason) that it now does seem odd to touch a child in that way (and, okay, I never got or heard of birthday spankings growing up), and I can hardly believe it's managed to survive this long.

Not quite right?
 

Hmmm, birthday spankings. A certain special someone is going to be verrry surprised!

Not quite right?
 

I totally remember birthday spankings from growing up (though I'd forgotten all about them until this thread)--maybe they're an Oregon thing? We also used to line up and make the birthday kid crawl between our legs, with each kid giving a spank to the crawlee as em passed.

tm

Not quite right?
 

Ooh, good point! Hmmm, no birthdays on the horizon. What do you think of Christmas spankings?

Not quite right?
 

No, I remember them too as aresult of this thread, so it was at least a LI and Oregon thing. But I don't recall a teacher ever doing it, it was, as you said, either other kids, or relatives.

Not quite right?
 

I remember it, but I don't remember which place(s) I lived where this was done. I don't remember if it was at school or at home or with friends or what.

Renaissance Fest
 

Good for kids (5 and 2.5) or no? Have never attended, but those costumes look kind of kiddie-cool.

Renaissance Fest
 

No idea one way or the other, but I am starting to rethink the question of whether or not we are the same person, given the ages of your kids. Hmmm.

Not quite right?
 

Also square state midwest. Also no teachers doing it.

Renaissance Fest
 

So does that mean you will pick them up at school(s) for me today? Thanks so much!

Not quite right?
 

In the burbs of NY, we had birthday punches. I don't remember birthday spankings.

The idea of the teacher doing it is somewhere between bizarre and really sick.

Renaissance Fest
 

This sort of thing will make for a Terrible Horrible No-Good VEry Bad Day. For all involved.

Renaissance Fest
 

Oops. I was assuming you would. I'm sure they're fine though.

Renaissance Fest
 

Imagine their embarrassment when nononono pulls out renaissance fair pics to show the kids' future boy- or girlfriends.

Mom, please don't. You're embarrassing me!!!

This is the goal? Future blackmail opportunities?

Renaissance Fest
 

They might be a little young to appreciate it. But dad will appreciate the young wenches in bustiers.

Renaissance Fest
 

Trust the voice of experience.

"Daddy, where are the rides?"

"Daddy, why can't I have a real sword?"

"Daddy, why does that lady have chains on her boobs?"

"DaddyI'mhotDaddyI'mhungryDaddyI'mthirstyDaddyI'mnotgoingtopeeinthereit stinks!"

"When are we going home?"

"Two 4-ounce juice boxes, that'll be $9."

"Daddy, I'm thirsty again."

And then there's the second hour....

Renaissance Fest
 

Leave them with grandma! They will get tired and bored very quickly and you will not enjoy it at all. The one here just didn't seem to me to be kiddy friendly in many ways - I think maybe age 7-8 would be ok, but not before.

Renaissance Fest
 

The Brazenette (age 3 and a half) loved loved loved it this summer. So much so that after attending with mommy AND daddy, she required daddy to take her again on his next weekend with her.

Not quite right?
 

too bad they stopped doing repressed memory therapy- you sound like you'd be a good candidate AND you seem like you would be a great candidate.

Renaissance Fest
 

Wonk's experience can happen too, but that can happen anywhere (besides Disney World), so the fact that it didn't work for Wonk really shouldn't carry much weight (hi ppnyc!).

Things like a ren fair have different attractions- if you are there with your friends from college you will do different things than there with 2 kids under 5, and maybe you won't stay as long as you would have with your college friends- hopefully you won't hunker in the beer tent as an example- but there are plenty of things little kids will like.

My kids liked the jousting. lots of crashing and smashing. They could have just as easily not have enjoyed it. then we would have moved on.

The one around us has two serving wenchs who have a argument and break into a mud-wrassle. That attraction would have been a common point for with college frinds and with kids.

Renaissance Fest
 

But of course. It's all that parents have left.

Renaissance Fest
 

Well, hopefully, we will not run into dad, as I will be taking a date.

Renaissance Fest
 

Ooh! Do they sell those chainmail bra-top things? Because I'm dying for one.

Renaissance Fest
 

Yup. Leather, too.

Renaissance Fest
 

Boys aged 12-15 are very unbored by the renfair, by the way.

Renaissance Fest
 

http://www.leanashe.com/

I can get to the jewelry parts, but webnanny blocks the apparel portion. So not sure what's in there.

Renaissance Fest
 

the woman on your page are too scary looking. they link to gothauctions.com for goodness sakes. these ladies are more what you'd see.

http://www.sblades.com/bikinis.php

http://www.sblades.com/ID-C10.php

Renaissance Fest
 

And g-string bottoms.

It seems like they would heat up in the sun? but I didn't look that closely.

http://www.sblades.com/gstrg.php

Renaissance Fest
 

I think they're also particularly high quality because it says they don't get hung up on nipple piercings.

Nox4, a necessary feature?

Renaissance Fest
 

I simply can't discuss this on this board. But while I can't say it's a necessary feature for me personally, it certainly seems to be a wise approach.

Not quite right?
 

Does she offer them to the Dads?

S_A_M

Nature/Nurture
 

• A recent documentary produced for Australia's Channel 4 (and described in a July story in Sydney's Daily Telegraph) caught up with a Ukrainian woman, now 23, who had been "forgot(ten)" by her mother and father and raised by dogs until discovered at age 8. Oxana Malaya (one of about 100 known feral children) has the tested mental age of 6, stilted speech and an uncoordinated gait, and still buries any gifts she receives and runs into the woods when she is upset. For the camera, Malaya showed she can still bark, run on all fours, pant with her tongue out, and dry herself off by shaking. [Daily Telegraph, 7-19-06]

http://www.newsoftheweird.com/archive/index.html

Nature/Nurture
 

the story below it is pretty good, too:

• News of the Weird reported in 1993 that a nude dancer in Tampa had been spared a more serious injury (according to a police officer) when a gunshot to her chest was deflected by her breast implant. In August 2006, an Agence France-Presse report from a hospital in Nahariya, Israel, credited a young woman's silicone breast implant for saving her from a more serious injury from shrapnel from a Hezbollah rocket during the recent war. [Agence France-Presse, 8-15-06]
  

Nature/Nurture
 

And to no one's surprise, her favorite sex position is . . .

Badump bump.