Most kids say they don't play blame game

By Melissa Kanz

Saturday is National Blame Someone Else Day.

First and second-graders at St. Paul School said sometimes they blame others when they get in trouble.
Second-grader Bethany Cohen admits she blames others when she gets in trouble.

�Yea, like my brothers,� she said, referring to Ethan, 13, and Caleb, 10.

�Sometimes I blame my cousins, cause I have boy cousins,� she said.

�Sometimes I say that they push me and they didn't really.� She said occasionally they really do hit and kick her but most of the time she just likes to get them in trouble.

�I get my brothers in trouble - both of them."

�Sometimes I just like annoying them.�

Colton Pitts said he doesn't have any siblings to blame but he admits to placing the blame elsewhere only one time.

�Just once I did it,� he said.

Pitts said he blamed his cats for something he had done but insists it was just an accident.

�I accidentally tripped and grabbed the bag and tore it and told (my mom) the cats did it,� he said about the bag of cat food.

Kacie Vanecek said she doesn't blame anyone when she gets in trouble.

�Not that I can think of,� she said.

She said even if she got in a lot of trouble, she would never blame anyone else.

Chase Rathmann admits to blaming other kids when he gets in trouble but he doesn't target anyone in particular, just random older kids.

Rathmann said he gets in trouble for a number of things, including �throwing rocks, hitting, kicking and beating each other up.�

Rathmann's younger brother, first-grader Lane Rathmann, said he never blames anyone else when he gets in trouble.

�I usually tell the truth,� Lane Rathmann said.

Rathmann said he doesn't get in trouble �very much� but his brother Chase does.

Lane said he's the good brother and Chase is the bad brother.

�We're real funny,� Lane Rathmann said.

�We learned it from Ben (their friend),� he said.

First-grader Garrett Johnson said he wouldn't blame anyone - even if he had to.

He said he only gets in trouble sometimes but he forgot what he gets in trouble for. He said for the most part he's always good.

Later he remembered that he gets in trouble for not playing with his puppy but he said he would never blame anyone else and takes full responsibility for his actions.

Madison Hanson said she doesn't blame other people but if she had to, she'd blame her 3-year-old sister Kendall. She said Kendall sometimes gets her in trouble.

Morgan Stewart said he would never blame anyone else when he gets in trouble. He said he occasionally gets in trouble at school.

�Sometimes it's Avery's fault,� he said.

�She hits me.�

He said his 15-year-old sister Trista usually does the same thing, hitting him and denying it.

Avery Crowell said she doesn't blame anyone when she gets in trouble and it's always her own fault.

She said she has gotten in trouble at school but it's her friend Carolyn's fault because they cause trouble together.

Any thoughts out there on who might be the sponsor of such an event?

'Blame Someone Else Day'


By Richard O'Donnell
FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, May 1, 2005

In case you haven't heard, the first Friday the 13th annually -- it's in May this year -- is now celebrated as "Blame Somebody Else Day."

So forget all about those old wives' tales, and silly superstitions that make a nervous wreck of you every time Friday the 13th shows up.

Just toss some salt over your shoulder, make sure your lucky rabbit foot is handy, and have a grand and glorious time blaming everybody and anybody for all that is wrong with your world.

If the deficit has been bugging you lately, blame it on all those money mad foreigners who have been working employees around the clock, for meager salaries, and obliging us to buy their stupid products, just so all those hard workers won't lose their jobs. How's that for a starter?
...

"B.S.E.D." was invented by Anne Moeller of Clio, Mich., in 1982. Her alarm clock did not go off at the appointed time, and, as a result, she overslept.

Since Moeller was late for all of her scheduled appointments that Friday the 13th, she had to come up with reasonable explanations for her slowness. That "the alarm clock didn't go off" routine may have worked well in the morning, but, in the afternoon, it was a tired old song.

So Moeller took advantage of poetic license -- which is a kind way of saying she played games with the truth -- and came up with other alibis. She blamed the traffic lights, flat tires and a lot of other things, and her excuses were all accepted.

Thus it was, in 1982, Moeller celebrated the very first "B.S.E.D." all alone. However, she was well aware she had stumbled on to a good idea, and designated the first Friday the 13th of the next year as America's second annual B.S.E.D.

The idea caught on, at least with politicians, young scholars with poor report cards, husbands who are late getting home, and wives who spend endless hours watching soap operas, when there are important things to do.

Join in the fun. Try to put the blame where it really belongs on this Friday the 13th.

So, who changed the celebration from the first Friday the 13th to January 13th? I would like to blame someone for that mistake.