It was the one big drawback to the summer birthday. Sure I never got a pop quiz on my birthday, but I didn't get to hear my name broadcast over the loudspeaker during morning announcements either. And with the exception of one year when my mother was feeling overly ambitious, I never got to walk the aisles between the desks, doling out cupcakes.
Now it looks like the cupcake kid is a thing of the past. Schools around the country are beginning to ban birthday celebrations in the classroom. They take away from teaching time, says one Minnesota principal. They sugar the kids up, and they make kids feel bad when they don't have a Martha mom at home mixing up batter before the bell rings.
I can recognize a bit of truth in all of that. But I wonder if this is just another case of taking the sweetness out of childhood.
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