But rather less so when the jokes are at your own expense
‘We can turn Mummy into a dog!’ says my son. I look at him quizzically and say that might not be possible. ‘An ant, then?’ he offers, by way of compromise. Those are both excellent pranks, I tell him, but quite far outside the remit of April Fools’ Day. It’s the first he’s ever heard of the holiday and enthusiasm is getting the better of him. While I attempt to manage his expectations, he leaps around the room, drunk on the prospect of adult-sanctioned silliness.
He is, after all, a budding comedian. I recently made the mistake of introducing him to the ‘what do you get if you cross x and y’ format, specifically the classic sheep/kangaroo ‘woolly jumper’ crossbreed. He has spent every day since attempting his own, with decidedly mixed results. Sample: what do you get if you cross a lion, a goat and a snake? A Liongoatsnake! The thousand or so variants he’s come up with since have not been particularly hilarious, but they have at least provided a recklessly thorough census of every animal he’s ever heard of.
