Day 35: Birthday Celebrations

Today was a fairly relaxed and mellow day at work - quite enjoyable indeed! It was also a special day at work because it was the birthday of one of my students. Lina, one of my kindergartens, turned six today. So, the school had prepared a little celebration in her honour that the whole class got to participate in. They had bought her a birthday cake and even a present! All the kindergartens gathered around to sing 'Happy Birthday' to her, and then they all had to leave except for her class who got to stay and enjoy the cake (including me!) No teaching today, no lessons - just a chance to sit and eat cake and watch the kids play! I thought it was really sweet that my boss and the other teachers made such a big deal for Lina! Assuming they do this for every student, there'll be another 15 or so birthday parties like this coming in the next year! Fine by me!!!

It's always great to have a big fuss made when you're little and it's your birthday. Hell, it's great to have a big fuss made when you're 25 and it's your birthday! :-) I remember back when I was in elementary school that all the students always got 'birthday bumps' in class from the teacher on the day that it was their birthday. (for those of you who aren't familiar with birthday bumps, they're little 'fun spankings' given to the birthday boy/girl on the teacher's lap on their birthday - one 'bump' for every year they are old. The birthday boy/girl 'reluctantly' gets spanked - even though they actually love the attention and are laughing the whole time - while the rest of the class screams out in ecstacy and dances around at watching one of their peers get spanked!) This was always a very fun and exciting spectacle for all the students - not just the one whose birthday it was. (side note: I wonder if schools still do this? I would imagine that we've gotten so 'politically-correct' and paranoid about touching students, unfortunately, that this time-honoured tradition is probably no longer allowed. Quite sad actually, as it was something that all students looked forward to having.)

Anyways my birthday is in August, when school is out for the summer, so I never got to experience the birthday bumps in school. I remember being so sad about this! Every time it was a student's birthday in class and they got the bumps, I was always a bit saddened by it cause I knew I was never going to have my turn. Ahhh well - 'suck it up, Scott!' you say, but hey it was quite tragic for a young innocent sweet 6-year old like me! Was the birthday bumps just a Sherbrooke or Thunder Bay phenomenon? Did other children in other schools in other cities get to enjoy the same rite of passage? I'm quite curious...