1. Aiden, Jayden, Brayden; Mia, Leah, Sophia; why do the popular baby names rhyme? And it’s not a recent phenomenon either; back in the 40s it was Marilyn, Evelyn and Carolyn and even further back to when Social Security first starting tracking these things in the 1880s, all the girls named ended in -ie.
Let your kids prank you and your partner this Sunday
As a kid, was there anything better than tricking your parents? Could you even believe that they would fall for the same old, “Is your refrigerator running?” joke year after year? Of course, they’re parents and you were so convincing and it was hilarious. Every time.
Well, it’s that time of year again when kids prank their unsuspecting parents with April Fools’ Day jokes. Don’t be surprised if you’re asked how the kids might trick you, or how they might be able to trick your partner.
Here’s what the kids can do (although they might need a little help): Read more...
Eat a soft-boiled egg for breakfast. When they’re done and have scraped out every last bit of egg from the shell, turn it upside down in the egg cup and tell their parent that they’ve made breakfast. They’ll crack into an empty shell. Hilarious!
April Fools’ Day food pranks date back to the Victorian Era, when a young lady named Edith Walrach got the early-morning surprise of her life. She was having breakfast at a friend’s house in Binghampton and she cracked into a hard boiled egg to have a mouse spring out! Her blithe host had stuck the critter in and then sealed the shell back up with plaster. We can imagine it shocked the tatted collar right off her. Our picks for April Fools’ Day food pranks are far from unsavoury- – your kids will get a pleasant surprise as they bite into a sweet treat disguised as something a little less exciting. They’re also fun and super easy to make.
Illustrator and author Aaron Zenz has some seriously artistic kids. When Zenz and his family watched the Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop, 10-year-old Gracie announced she was going to be a street artist too. (Zenz then had to explain why we can’t just go around vandalizing everything.)
But the Zenz kids were inspired! So they came up with something that, while not doing damage to anyone’s property, would be, “something artsy. Something stealthy. Something public.” And so they gathered a whole bunch of rocks and washed them. Then three Z-kids and the Z-dad each picked a colour and painted the rocks with various expressions of various levels of zaniness.
Sometimes the family Christmas prank is…indescribable.
There’s something about the holidays that makes us act a little silly. Maybe it’s because we finally get to release all the stress that has been building up, loosen our ties (and belts) and just kick back for a few days. The extra free time and proximity to family members lends itself to some hijinks. Some tomfoolery, if you will. And inevitably, some Christmas pranks. As you’ll see, sometimes these friendly family pranks become treasured holiday traditions. Other times, they take a turn for the worse.
The raisin experiment
Ohdeedoh posted about the Raisin Experiment, a small-scale prank that was little more than parents wrapping up a box of raisins to give to their 3-year-old (and recording his reaction) that snowballed into an epic prank that got repeated year after year. Last year, the kid got a large canister of raisins, with predictably hilarious results. Here’s hoping this tradition keeps going well into his teens, and, for the sake of our own amusement, into his adulthood. Read more...
