This morning, we played one of the myriad pranks on our children that play out year round until they will eventually figure us out. For St. Patrick’s Day, we set some Leprechaun traps (see last year’s elaborate Leprechaun Trap) and of course, they failed. This morning, the kids came downstairs to find all kinds of toys, lamps and stools on top of tables and counters. Powdered sugar was everywhere and those little buggers turned our milk green! Those mischievous leprechauns got us again!
I started to take inventory of the various fictional characters we employ, partially for our childrens’ benefit, but primarily for sheer entertainment value. There’s the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, Buggy Monsters and Halloween Spooks. What’s really intriguing is the questions our 5 year old asks us. He’s very analytical and asks questions like how the tooth fairy gets in his room with windows closed and how the Leprechaun climbs up onto tabletops when he’s so little. Yet he never figures out that it’s a big joke. I wonder if some older kid in school will ruin it and tell him there’s no Santa, there’s no Leprechaun and the Tooth Fairy’s a hoax. I wonder if when he figures out one, it will snap and he’ll realize they’re all fictional characters.
I don’t remember how I found out. Do you?
How Have Your Children Reacted to Finding out?
