Pin 196: April Fool's Day Prank

Original pin:

http://mrsgoffskinders.blogspot.com/2012/03/best-april-fools-joke.html

A fun little April Fool's Day prank--a homemade batch of "brown-e's"!! Love it! (And by the way, this blog it is from has some really cute ideas for the pre-school/early elementary crowd. I'm going to have to spend a little more time digging around out there.)

I spent last night at work (my "real", paying-sort of job) so this morning and early afternoon were spent sleeping. Big El was at school and Lil' Dub was off at Grammy's house for the day. After I picked Big El up from the school bus, we hopped in the car to head out to pick up the brother. We were talking about April Fool's Day and what sort of funny things we could do when I remembered this fun idea. I LOVE a good pun. I hadn't intended on making any stops, and money has been tight the past month (thanks to birthdays, dental work, home repair, more birthdays, more dental work, more home repair. . . ), so I didn't have any cash on me. I have strictly forbidden myself from charging or debiting anything other than true necessities. However, one of my favorite dollar stores was on our way and we started digging change out from all the little storage spaces in the car.

We managed to pull together a few dollars and stopped in for our supplies. With our change, we bought foil, a brownie pan, some brown lunch sacks, and an Orange Crush (because hard work made us thirsty and we had a couple extra coins.) As any good crafter (or nurse), I always have a few tools with me, so I pulled out my suture scissors and went to work making some "E"s while Big El went to work on the Orange Crush. Moments later, we had a pan full of Es ready to present to Grammy and Pops.

He was so excited as we met them at the door bearing our special holiday brownies. When Grammy peeked inside and found the surprise, Big El burst into giggles.

We were able to pull it again on Pops and then again on Daddy. Good clean April Fool's Day fun!

Total cost: $3 (unless we add in the Orange Crush.) I could have put this together for $0 if I had had the clear brain to think of it before we left the house. Oh, the woes of working the night shift.

Total time: 5 minutes (plus baking time. . . hehehe)

Final verdict: I love it because it is a good pun. The kid's loved it because it was fun to play a prank on April Fool's Day. Now how are we going to top this next year??

Pin 66

Original pin:

No source available.

So I originally pinned this as a joke. I pinned it to my "free smiles" board. But one day, when I was at my wit's end with the boys I decided I was going to spend an entire day whispering whenever I felt like yelling.

I guess my whisper isn't scary. I know my mom's was. I think all kids should have a little healthy fear of their parents, but I guess my kids aren't scared of the whisper. HOWEVER, it actually was a very effective strategy for multiple reasons:

1. Yelling escalates any situation. It releases adrenaline that ramps you up, makes you angrier, makes my face turn bright red. Whispering doesn't have this physical effect. So the situation doesn't escalate nearly as fast.

2. Each time I needed to whisper to them, I had to call them over to me which meant they were leaving whatever situation it was that was getting them in trouble. 9 times out of 10 they didn't go back to whatever it was they were doing.

3. A lot of my kiddos misbehavior is attention-getting at times when I am occupied, i.e., dinner making. Calling them to the kitchen for a brief minute gave them a little attention. They giggled at the whisper in their ear and I got to give them a little bite of whatever was cooking.

4. No one gives you dirty looks in public for whispering at your kids like they do for screaming at them. You can say anything you want in a whisper and no one will know. (And the tickly whisper makes my kids giggle so the general masses think I'm being sweet and silly with them. I know the truth.)

Total cost:$0

Total time:One waking day

Final verdict: Overall, it is not a strategy I could do 100% of the time, and it wouldn't be effective if I used it all the time either. But it definitely opened my eyes to the degree of escalation that was occurring once the yelling started. I am surely using it as one of my tools in the great toolbox of discipline.