Practicle Jokes

Practical jokes are something parents and kids use to have playful fun with each other and it can keep the lines of communication open between kids and parents. Even though parents might be better at playing practical jokes on kids, it is fun to see how your child comes up with ideas for funny pranks or practical jokes to pull on you.
 
Of course, it can depend on the personality of the child as to whether they have a sense of humor about your practical jokes. You want to come up with little practical jokes that aren't too scary or too emotionally traumatizing, or they can have the opposite effect. Using humor to keep the lines of communication open between children and adults can be a good way to encourage creativity and sensitivity, too. Practical jokes can be a way to incorporate humor into fun and communication.
 
Practical jokes that seem to work the best are little things that involve a great surprise or reward at the end. While some parents might not think of practical jokes as a way to open the lines of communication, think of the creative ways you use to make your child believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Do you think that these are much different than some of the practical jokes you might be able to play on your child?
 
One of my Dad's practical jokes came back three-fold one Easter. My father dug a hole at the corner of the house and placed a few plastic Easter Eggs in it without my younger sisters seeing him. I was older and had outgrown the "Easter Bunny" theory. When my younger sisters woke up and saw their Easter baskets full of candy, they questioned my father how the "Easter Bunny" got into the house.
 
Dad took them outside and showed them the hole with plastic eggs and claimed the Easter Bunny dropped them while digging into the house. They were getting old enough to question this far-fetched way to get candy and gifts, but they went along with it. The ideal opportunity for practical jokes came along when the kids next door got three live bunnies for Easter from their aunt that had a farm.
 
My younger sisters devised a way to pull practical jokes on Dad with the bunnies. The neighbors loaned out the baby rabbits for a couple hours as they helped us plan the practical jokes that would be played on Dad. The first sister went into the house, carrying her little live bunny and told Dad she found it in the hole that the Easter bunny dug. A split second later, the next sister took another bunny in saying the same thing.
 
By this time, the practical jokes couldn't get any funnier. Dad's face was priceless when the third bunny came through the door, left in the Easter bunny hole, of course. Dad was relieved to admit that the Easter Bunny hole was one of his practical jokes, but we made him sweat before we told him that the bunnies were on loan.
 
The moral of the story about practical jokes with your kids is that you need to be prepared to get paid back with ingenious practical jokes they come up with on their own. Practical jokes can be fun and humorous, when used with good intentions.

Do you have a practical joke you's like to share? Go Here: A Kid-Friendly Family Site