One Thing Kids Like is to be Tricked

One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. "Oh, no," I said. "Disneyland burned down." He cried and cried, but I think that deep down, he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.

--Jack Handy

Adam and I have a long standing and sometimes tear inducing tradition of tricking our kids on April Fools' Day. It's fun and we figure we can always spring for the therapy later.

This morning dawned without even an inkling of a trick idea. We had nothing. Plus I was feeling lazy...too lazy to come up with a scheme. And as the kids get older, the schemes have to get more elaborate.

Who has that kind of energy?

I decided to embrace the laziness (and we're ahead with our progress goals for school).

I called the troops to the school room for school. And I announced we were not having school. They immediately wondered why not (they're suspicious and cynical, these kids). I blurted out, "April Fools! We really are having school!" They groaned.

Then I said, "April Fools! We're not having school." They looked at me a little unsettled.

Then I said, "April Fools! Yes we are having school." Braeden rolled his eyes and Emma told me I wasn't being funny.

I sort of thought I was being funny.

We kept at it for awhile and all three of them continued to think I was unfunny. Then I told them to drag the futon mattress downstairs. I told them to get their pillows and blankets (and they translated that to mean handfuls of stuffed animals too). They made comfortable little nests for themselves on the futon mattress. I popped popcorn and we watched The Sound of Music...at least the first half, that's a long movie. We stopped for a chocolate cake break.

So here's the moral of the story. Playing hooky is fun. Even when you've just had a vacation and don't really deserve it. Sometimes a little "Lonely Goatherd" is exactly what one needs to keep their chin up.