April Fools’ Day is always a fun time in our home. I live with a bunch of pranksters, which means they keep me on my toes all day. No one is safe this day—not even Mama.
Every year, I painstakingly contemplate what kind of tricks I’d like to play on my kids. Here are some I considered this year:
1. Steal their underwear.
I imagine this prank would go something like this:
Me: Are you missing anything today?
Him: No.
Me: Nothing?
Him: No.
Me: How long has it been since you changed your underwear?
Him: I don’t know.
I doubt he (and by he, I mean any one of my kids, take your pick) would even notice, without my explaining to him what I’d done, so I skipped this one. Maybe in a couple of years, when he actually cares about how he smells.
2. Hide their shoes in random places.
The problem with this little idea is that my kids don’t really need any help with losing their shoes. They leave them in odd places and accomplish this little trick on their own—every morning, without fail.
3. Stuff all their socks inside one lucky sock.
One of the 5-year-olds does this on a regular basis, so I don’t think they would really appreciate my work on this one. Why waste all that time?
When I asked them what they use this monster sock for, they said “Hitting each other.” Of course. They call it a sock bomb.
4. Pretend the hot water got turned off for the one who actually cares about taking a shower.
I feel like that would discourage him from taking a shower, though, and we definitely don’t need that. Boys aren’t exactly the most hygienic people around.
5. Turn all their clothes inside out.
Oh, wait. This happens every laundry day, because that’s how they put it in the dirty clothes hampers, and I don’t have time to turn it all the right way.
6. Replace their morning milk with buttermilk.
My dad did this to me when I was 6. How many people can remember memories from when they were 6?
Exactly. It was traumatic. I took this one off the table.
7. Tell them they don’t have school today.
This would have been really fun, except that April Fools’ Day was on a Sunday. Also, I imagine that when the day falls on a school day and if I actually executed this prank, there would be some messy cleanup when they find out it’s a joke. And by messy cleanup, I mean lots and lots and lots of whining.
8. Tell them it’s “dress like a Dr. Seuss character” at church today.
This one I actually managed. I wish I had a picture to show you, but I was too busy laughing.
I’m glad we can have a house that embraces pranks.
But now that I can’t find my left running shoe and there’s a stick-bouquet hiding under my covers and someone switched out my favorite soap with hand sanitizer, I’ve realized that I’m really good at dishing it out—but not so great at taking it.
Mom was right all along. Imagine that.
(Photo by Charles Deluvio 🇵🇭🇨🇦 on Unsplash)
