SAL_MOM_FebMar19 - page 24

24
mommag.com
Did you know that April Fools’ Day was started by an exhausted mom who
wanted to play a trick on her family by resetting all of the clocks in the
house so that she could stay in bed?
Kid-friendly April
Fools’ Day pranks
Don’t be an April fish! If you want to
get in on the joke, think Elf-on-the-
Shelf meets a mischievous lepre-
chaun and you’ll be in the right
mindset for some fun April Fools’ Day
pranks. Here are a few ideas to fool
your family.
Set the clocks forward an hour,
then wake the kids up by frantical-
ly announcing that you’re late.
After they scramble to get ready,
surprise them with a breakfast
treat.
Tell your kids you’re having
cupcakes for dinner. Then serve
meatloaf “cupcakes” topped with
mashed potatoes colored to look
like frosting.
Surprise your kids with a bowl of
frozen cereal. The night before,
pour cereal in a bowl and about
half the milk, then freeze. In the
morning top up with a little fresh
milk before serving.
Stuff the inside tips of your
children’s shoes with tissue or
cotton balls. They’ll be confused as
to why their shoes suddenly don’t
fit. Throw in some casual com-
ments about how their feet look
like they’ve grown.
Put a small drop of food coloring
inside the bristles of your children’s
toothbrushes. If the drops are little,
they won’t even realize they’re
there until they begin brushing
their teeth and discover a yuck
mouth.
Pour some baking soda in the
toilet. Then, when your little ones
go potty in the morning, it will fizz
up and surprise them.
April Fools’ Day is a time for jokes and
pranks, but kids sometimes lack the
maturity to distinguish between a
fun-loving joke and a hurtful one.
Teach your child about “laughing
with, not at someone.” Emphasize that
a good joke includes everyone
laughing together, not picking on
someone or leaving them out.
K
e
e
p
i
t
f
u
n
had moved to January 1 and continued to
celebrate it during the last week of March
through April 1 became the butt of jokes
and hoaxes. These pranks included having
paper fish placed on their backs and being
referred to as poisson d’avril (April fish),
said to symbolize a young, “easily hooked”
fish and a gullible person.
Just fooling! The actual origins of April
Fools’ Day are unknown, but History.com
tells us that historians speculate the
holiday dates back to 1582. That’s when
France switched from the Julian to the
Gregorian calendar. People who failed to
recognize that the start of the new year
1...,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32
Powered by FlippingBook