Candy Bubbles

Did anyone ever used to buy candy bubbles? You'd blow them and then eat them.
Came in cherry and grape flavors. Cherry was best. Much better than soap flavor.
I just remembered those. Only when you didnt manage to snatch em up in your mouth, and the popped on you- they got you real nice and sticky. And sometimes people would just drink the liquid. That can not have been safe.

Anyway, on to the times of yesteryear...I was thinking about this particular memory today when eating lunch with an open-mouthed chewer who shall remain nameless.

When I was little, I was eating lunch- tomato and peanut butter on toast specifically (what? its good) - at the table with the babysitter and my sister. My babysitter proceeded to get all up in my face and tell me that I was not allowed to eat at the table with them if I could not learn to close my mouth when I chewed.
I was promptly exiled to eat my lunch in the family room, alone and mortified. Although I was young, and it was only my sister and babysitter who knew of this thing I did, I was unspeakably horrified by my actions. Every time thereafter that I made the vicious mistake of talking while chewing, or opening my mouth at all during the meal time I was banished to the couch of shame.
It took me a very short time to rectify this behavior and learn to eat like a lady.

To this day, I am very conscious and offended by open mouth chewers (you know who you are).

Moral of the story: Public ridicule effectively halts undesirable behaviors in children. So if you have kids, and they are picking their nose or something- just broadcast it at a sporting event or something. Maximum embarassment = maximum results. This could be a new psychology line of study, right Caro? Much akin to behaviorism or Jungian pyschology - here comes a new school of thought! Petersian Psychology - conditioning through public humiliation. Textbook writers, get a pen! Who wants to be a study participant?

I will further demonstrate how public humilation can affect youth and development through a case study I only refer to as THE INCIDENT. I will give you this sneak preview, as I have to collect myself and my thoughts before I can fully committ this to words. Let me just say this - this INCIDENT, as it was, I have only very recently been able to discuss without weeping or running for the hills. I considered transferring schools after it occurred, and I still can not talk about it without hearing the haunting laughter of cruel preteens and feeling the burn of my salty tears.

Since the bubbles will help disguise my tears and redness, I shall attempt, in the near future, to tell the story of...the snart. (insert the theme song of Are You Afraid of the Dark).

Buckle up.

Miriam put your bathing suit back on. I mean seriously.