As a professional clown, my son expects something for April Fools.
I laid the groundwork for this pretty early in the morning.
I got AA up for his shower, and said in passing, you have to wear your boots today, it snowed.
I didn't make a big deal out of it, or tell him school was cancelled. He would have suspected something.
While eating breakfast: "Don't forget your big jacket. It's cold out."
Making plans for after school: "I thought we'd go bike riding, but the playground will be a mess because of the snow."
After his shower, we were rushing around to dry his hair, get ready for school.
My wife (not in the loop) says, "He doesn't need to dry his hair!"
Me, "Yes he does. Snowed last night. Inch on the ground."
My wife: "Oh God. Chicago!"
During his breakfast, he says a little too practiced and nervously. "Miss S. said they extended vacation for an extra week. April Fools!"
"Not bad, little bear. Pretty good!"
"Dad, what's your April fools joke?"
"I don't know yet- I haven't figured it out."
I packed his shoes in his backpack, got his hat ready for him.
Gave him the 30 second brush (have to remember to do a stronger brushing tonight!)
We walk out of the door to the bus stop (right across the street) one minute early.
I got him!
After this (and you can see it in his face) he's actually kind of upset, because he's wearing his heavy jacket and boots. They will probably have outdoor recess. His shoes are already packed for him, but his jacket-he wants his lighter jacket.
I didn't think of that. We run inside to get it. I am not a monster!
We come back out, and the BUS is already there, we dash across the street, and he makes it on just before the bus takes off! (If he hadn't, the joke would have been on me, then!)
Another successful April Fool's!
Meanwhile, I go back inside, and my wife says, "I looked outside, and it didn't snow."
April Fools jokes are a little cruel. They are designed that way. In some sense, you are lying to a loved one in order to fool them. On another sense, it is all in good fun, and as long as no one gets hurt physically or emotionally, I can justify it.
For me, some of my favorite moments growing up were little practical jokes that we played on each other-- especially hiding when somebody comes in, and then jumping out and scaring them. My dad used to love to do that, and he would laugh uproariously when you got fooled, or when he got fooled. Sharing a joke together is to me an important part of being a parent.
They are now some of my favorite memories of my now-deceased father.
I guess I'm hoping that likewise, these moments, even if they can be a little frustrating in the short-term, will turn into some of my son's favorite memories of me.
An April Fool's Pranks from 1857- there is
no Washing the Lions Ceremony.
Each year, I've played some pretty good practical jokes on my son-- one year, I brought him to school even though school was closed for the day (which meant he had to wake up super early!) I made up for that by letting him have donuts for breakfast.
Another year, I convinced him it was snowing and he put on his snow boots and all of his other stuff to go to school and went outside only to find out that it was a beautiful day. (Here's that video below)
He's tried to get me too, (when he was two he told me (pretty unconvincingly) that he had pooed in his bed. It's all in the delivery.
You can read about (and see some video) of some of my best April Fool's pranks here
This year, no video. I decided to try a different tack. It's a Saturday, so school was out. I knew he knew it was April Fool's Day (we had discussed planning to play a trick on my wife, but it didn't really pan out). I didn't try to surprise him with something crazy. Instead, after breakfast and he was busy reading, we had this conversation, very casually.
Here's our conversation (with my thought process)
ME: "Okay, Mom and I've discussed it, and we've decided to take you to see the movie Logan. I think you are able to handle it. We'll go to the matinee today." HIM: "No, I don't want to see that, I want to see King Kong."
MY THOUGHTS: What? He wanted to see King Kong? I thought he wants to see Logan. I'm sure he told me he wants to see Logan." King Kong might have worked. OH well, too late now.
ME: "No, I've already bought the tickets, we have to go." HIM: Starts to cry and whimper MY THOUGHTS: I can't believe he's crying about this. He must have figured it out. What? He's really crying? I better go tell him. I walk over to him on the couch. Those are real tears! He's really upset!! I pick him up in my arms like a baby and say: ME: Guess what, little bear. "April Fool's! " HIM: More crying, and then finally laughing that he really got got.
I had no idea he was going to take it that way. I really thought he'd be excited about Logan. I'm glad we got through it, and I was able to make him laugh at the end, and of course to REALLY get him, but felt bad after I made him cry about going to the movies. Not that he should cry over something so ridiculous. And I have lots of experience making kids cry. I am a professional clown after all! Anyway, it's making me re-think practical joking. I am sure I will still do it, but I don't want to make the kid CRY.
What do you think? And what was your prank for April Fools?
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For the last four months my wife and I have been keeping a pretty big secret from my son.
Do you promise you won't tell? Shhhh....
For his eighth birthday we are going to Universal Orlando! (And he doesn't know! So don't tell him!)
We are going as part of Family Forward Conference. It's run by two friends of ours, (the guys who own MomItForward) and basically it's a conference for social media influencers where the family of the influencer is specifically invited and encouraged to come.
It's held at Universal Orlando every year, (this is the fourth year) and features VIP tours of the parks, social media topics, time at the pool, a trip to see Blue Man Group, discount hotel, and bonding with other families just like ours, and more importantly lots of vacation time!
Here's what they say:
Join 70 digital families for 4 nights and 5 days of hands-on activities the whole family can enjoy, theme-park entertainment, and fun in the sun by the pool.
Family Forward gives families experiences, ideas, and skills to embrace bonding in the digital age through workshops centered on topics like charity, communication, creativity, team building, and trust. Our premise is that whether you are unplugged or are plugged in, you can maximize opportunities to create connections with your family.
THANKS TO THE SPONSORS OF FAMILY FORWARD!
A big part of any conference is sponsors (believe me, I ran a conference, I know!) So I want to give an extra big shout out to the Sponsors of Family Forward.
So I can hear you asking: But how did you keep such a big secret from your son? And more importantly, why? (Go ahead, ask. I'll wait!)
The why is the harder question to answer, and so I'll answer that first. As a professional clown, it should come as no surprise to you that I am a bit of a joker. My family has a tradition of surprises (my wife surprised me with a 50th birthday party 6 weeks late! I surprised my brother on his 40th birthday by flying to Bogota Colombia. (and he had surprised me by appearing at my doorstep 3 days before I was scheduled to depart. Great minds think alike!) And I have a series of April Fools Pranks on my son that have so far have been quite good.
It's fun to give stuff to people, especially when they aren't expecting it.
The how is easier to explain-- we snuck in a grain of truth. We were already planning to go to DisneyWorld (as you probably know, we are rabid fans, recently became owners of a Disney Time share, and we've gone there a bunch of times.)
My wife is a guru about when the park will be empty, and according to historical data, the last week of August is one of the slowest weeks for the parks.
So we told him we were going to Disney for 5 days, and as a special treat, we organized with our friends in New York the McGills (note: not their real name) for Aaron and his best New York friend to meet at Disney. (You can read about some more of our adventures with the McGills here.)
We are actually taking all the kids to Disney, while the parent McGills have an adults only vacation, because the parent McGills can't stand amusement parks, and we want their kids to grow up relatively normal. (And because the Bear would love it! We're basically renting siblings for him!) We are spending 5 days at Disney with the McGill kids, and then my son thinks we are going to visit Grandma who also lives in Florida. But in reality Grandma is coming to visit us!
Click the image (or this link) to get a Gryffindor robe of your own.
To prepare for this event, I did have to do some devilish preparation, including having my son read all of the Harry Potter books, see most of the Harry Potter Films (we have finished 6, we have both Deathly Hallows movies to watch, which hopefully will happen tomorrow or Friday (we leave on Saturday!)) And we have had to studiously avoid him noticing all of the preparations, including buying him Harry Potter robes, not letting him look at all the emails we've been getting from Family Forward, etc. It's been hard, but it's been manageable
In the end it will all be worth it. My son gets the best birthday present ever, (two parks, hanging out with his friend, seeing his grandma) we get to hang out with the McGill's (who will spend a day on either end with us at a water park and a dinner before going off to have a lovely adults only vacation).
We are big fans of Disney, but have never been to Universal, so this is the perfect time. My son is not much of a roller coaster kid, but he loves Harry Potter, he loves having fun, and he loves to swim.
Personally, I'm excited about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and all the rides (which are supposed to be awesome!) but I'm perhaps most excited about Blue Man Group-- amazingly, I've never seen their show live, and it seems like such a natural for me. When I lived in NY (and now in Chicago) I have just never gotten around to it!
Here's a video/ad of Blue Man Group:
And they lived Happily Ever After. (at least until the credit card bill comes in.)
