Not so AW-SOME!

A few weeks ago my mom and I were at an event for women, and as part of the event they had a spelling bee for kids.  As we passed by the spelling bee we overheard a girl being asked by the spelling bee moderator to spell the word awesome.  

The little girl spelled it A-W-S-O-M-E.  

The moderator paused, and said, looking at the judges, "well, she missed the e but she was close enough, don't you think?"

And the judges nodded in agreement!

My mom and I looked at each other with major "what the H?" looks on our faces.  And then we just started laughing (and had to move away from the spelling bee to avoid making a scene).  

Seriously though...since when is "close enough" good enough in a spelling bee? Where do you draw the line?...one letter wrong is okay, but missing two is not? Isn't the purpose of a spelling bee to get kids to spell words correctly...not just "close enough"?

Anyway, that little girl's spelling wasn't so aw-some and she definitely didn't deserve a trophy, but she probably got one.  And I may be a mean old spinster, but since when does everybody have to be a winner?  I think not everyone deserves a trophy.  Even this kid...

probably didn't deserve that trophy...unless of course the competition was for most awesome mullet/tie-dye shirt combo, and in that case, his (her?) trophy was well-deserved.  

But seriously, I worry about kids these days.  Does the everyone gets a trophy generation grow into the majored in art history at an expensive private university and expects other people to pay off their student loans generation?  Probably.  (And, just for the record, even though my generation is quite privileged too I did pay off my own grad school student loans...so, even though I have a useless degree I did pay for it myself!)

But, in my estimation, one of the main problem with kids these days, and the root of their sense of entitlement...?...TRUNK or TREAT!  Seriously, kids today don't even have to work hard for their Halloween candy...people bring it to them now!  When I was a kid we had to work for our Halloween candy (which is why I felt completely justified in selling it to my brothers on sugar-deprived Sunday afternoons).  We had to dress up, go from house to house in the freezing cold, and walk up and down driveways and stairs.  Not to mention that inevitably a neighbor or two would find enjoyment in hiding outside and scaring us poor little kids, who were just in search of a little free sugar.  With the advent of Trunk or Treating, Halloween became a holiday for lazy, moochy kids.  

Yeah, yeah, the world isn't as safe as when I was a kid...that's why Trunk or Treat came about.  In my opinion though, you shouldn't let your kids Trick or Treat to people you don't know well enough to know that they aren't deranged people handing your kid a razor blade laden apple.  So I say, down with Trunk or Treat!  Have your kids only go to people you know...then they'll be safe, will have to work a little for their candy, and the older people (who are sitting at home waiting with candy) will get visited by Trick or Treaters.  

And, speaking of kids, the other day I was in the drive-through at the bank.  After I completed my transaction the teller (who I thought knew me, and knew that I was a childless spinster) asked me, "are there kids in your backseat?"  My heart dropped for a second as I jerked my head around to see if I'd somehow gotten into the wrong car at my previous stop and had inadvertently kidnapped somebody's kids.  But, fortunately, the teller had just forgotten me (and my childlessness) and was just wondering if I had kids in my heavily tinted backseat who wanted some Smarties.  Phew!