Piñatas

As a native Texan, I have been to many a party and played hit the piñata with a stick.  I have purchased several piñatas for the birthday parties of my own children. 
I have purchased these piñatas at the local grocery stores and Wal-Mart's.  Brightly colored paper-mache in the shape of stars, donkeys and flowers filled with special treats.  Sometimes for the older kids they are blind folded and spun around to disorientate them.  Smaller kids are given the stick and the piñata swung a little to make a challenge to the game.  Finally someone will hit the piñata and treats either of candy or coins fall to the ground.   All the kids scramble to get the treats.
This has been carried out in my family for several generations, just as pin the tail on the donkey was also played at the children’s birthday parties.
Today, I was reading online about how piñatas are a threat to your child’s psychological well being.  I had to take a double take at the article. 
Piñatas: A Bad Idea for Your Child's Party?
Vanessa Bartlemus, Yahoo! Contributor Network
A blindfolded child is let up to some poor helpless papier-mâché animal hanging off a tree by a string. They have a stick or a bat in their hand, and they proceed to whack the animal with all their might. Other children are cheering on the fight. When the piñata is broken open, candy spills out. Everyone rushes to grab as much candy as they can. It's every kid for them self.
Doesn't sound like such a good party game when it's put like that, huh?
Piñatas are not a good idea for your child's party. Children should never hit anything with a stick. Even worse, kids can get piñatas in their favorite character too. Doesn't anyone slightly cringe at the thought of their child whacking Dora the Explorer or Elmo around with a baseball bat? What is that doing for a child's character? Getting a flower or car piñata is only slightly less worse.
People carefully teach their children, from the first time they playfully hit as a baby, that hitting is wrong. They don't allow hitting in their family and they don't spank. But then children are allowed to hit piñatas to the breaking point. Then they get candy; they are rewarded for violent behavior!
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So what are some better alternatives? There are now pull-string piñatas...which get rid of the hitting element. Your child pulls a string and the contents of the piñata fall out. That way, your child can have the experience of having a piñata at their party, without the violence.
As for the candy that spills out afterwards, each child is quickly grabbing as much as they can. Whatever happened to sharing? Not to mention that all that candy isn't that great for your child's health. And what about the shy kids, or the kids who aren't pushy? They end up with much less than everyone else. Is that how they're rewarded for their better behavior?
So what are some better alternatives? There are now pull-string piñatas...which get rid of the hitting element. Your child pulls a string and the contents of the piñata fall out. That way, your child can  have the experience of having a piñata at their party, without the violence. Fill it with healthy snacks or toys. Have a set number of toys or snacks inside and tell the children before hand how many of each thing they can each pick out. Or have a set number of the same kind of thing for each child, and have the birthday child pass out the toys/snacks to each of the other children. If you really want the children to have the experience of all grabbing after the piñata contents, let them, but at the end, observe each child and see if anyone seems to have not gotten as much. Then find a kid or kids who got a lot and ask them if they would like to share with the kid/kids who didn't get enough.
I know this article makes a seemingly innocent and well-liked party game seem horrible. Even I never thought twice about hitting a piñata till I recently saw kids with a piñata on T.V. and it dawned on me that, hey, this game is pretty violent! But please consider the implications it has for your child's behavior, and think twice before getting your child a piñata for your next party.
Maybe your child should never play baseball, softball, tennis and golf or any other sport that hits an object with a stick, racquet or bat.  I am uncertain where our country is heading when they think that competition is not a good thing and everything should be divided equal.
When I first read this article I thought it was a joke.  The more I read it, I realized this lady seriously believed this.  Competition is healthy as far as I am concerned.  What is this woman’s child going to do when they grow up and get their first job?  Start crying and demand they get paid the same amount of money as everyone else because they are shy.  Better yet, I hope the draft is not reestablished and we are at war and they are serving next to one of my children.  Excuse me Mr. Terrorist, can I pull your string.  Just surrender to me and we can all be happy!