It's the reason why I don't have any friends and all my pets run away.

Someday when I really am being eating by a closet monster, I'm going to regret that he's not there to save me.

did it.

I don't play them, but I can enjoy a light one now and again, esp. on April 1.

Hate is kind of a strong emotion to have about any form of humor, though, doncha think?

and some just aren't funny to me, such as when people are actually hurt. Think "America's Funniest Home Videos" as an example. I cringe when I see someone fall on their ass, get smacked in the face, or take a blow to the nuts. Not funny.

"Hate" is used in a less literal sense. If I'd said "abhor" you could be confident that I really meant it!

then immediately winking at the person I said it to, to show I'm kidding.

As my prior post indicated, it's not really my form of humor.. Even if there is no physical injury, the point is usually to make someone look and feel like, well, a fool and I don't yuck a lot over that., even if I am not the target. Seems cruel for no reason. And I thought parents who played them on their young kids at the best of Kimmel were nuts. Why people enjoy making young kids cry for no reason is way beyond me.

Hence, my post limited the kinds of practical jokes I can enjoy.

But lighthearted, mild ones today,

and I've only seen one skit. I've actively avoided watching them since. Even when the harm is reversed in short order, it's still happened. With children, that's got to be a violation of trust. Not cool.

I have to wonder what they do the rest of the time, when Kimmel is not directing them.

as a parent, I have a hard time punishing my kids (I still DO, I just cry with them, LOL) without feeling horrible - and that's when they deserve it because they've done something awful. I simply cannot imagine causing them that much distress and finding it FUNNY. The closest I've come is when my oldest was 13 months and I put her in the playpen so I could fold clothes without her pulling them down. She started whining and fussing and pressing her face up against the mesh with her mouth open and tongue hanging out. Her mesh-pressed faces were so funny her dad and I couldn't stop laughing. I even managed to snap a few pictures. But then after a few minutes she got really upset and started crying so she got picked up and the clothes folding had to wait.

Anyway, the topic just reminded me of that one time. But I would never CAUSE my kid to be upset and think it was hilarious. I cannot watch those Kimmel bits. Makes me sad for the kids.

and/or send a tape to Kimmel. Now, if you had put her in the playpen again, and held a camera, hoping she would cry and push her face into mesh again to give you another laugh.......


When my son was a newbornt, he cried so much. My husband and I were worn out. We got the usual advice: just let him cry or you'll spoil him. I did not believe newborns cry for no reason, but nothing worked. So, we tried letting him cry. My husband practically had to handcuff me to the bed. That lasted maybe 45 minutes. Sleep deprivation was less stressful for me than listening to him cry.

P.S. He never did get spoiled.

I always held my babies when they were crying (with the exception of 'attempting' the cry it out technique when my oldest was 18 months old. It was a mistake and never happened again.) All 4 of my kids were 'coddled' and 'spoiled rotten' (gasp, I didn't spank either). Yet, I get nothing but compliments about how wonderful they are from their teachers, coaches, bosses, relatives, etc. They are all honors students, no major rebelling from my teens, the oldest is going to start her engineering degree in the fall. My kids are pretty awesome if I do say so myself. I'm so glad I 'spoiled' them.

BTW, I always believed that ignoring a newborn's cries taught the baby that they were not worthy of having their needs met and created a whole host of trust issues and resulted in a child who could not feel empathy because they were shown none and those connections were never formed in their brains. So all those people who whine about 'spoiled' children are creating the next crop of sociopaths. IMHO of course

I didn't spank either. I had been spanked and worse. Like most kids, the way I grew up seemed like it must be how everyone grows up. So, it had never occurred to me not to spank. Then, as a newly wed, my husband's uncle mentioned in conversation that it had been my father-in-law who had taught him (the uncle) never to hit a child. My husband was such a dutiful son and all around good person that I was stunned. I had assumed spanking was necessary to produce a good adult. So, I looked at my father in law in amazement and said, "Really?" And he explained his reasons, which made perect sense to me.

Once, when my son was still pre-school, maybe 3, he did something that seemed so defiant and willful and Iwas so tired that I reflexively hit him. We were both stunned. When he was about 7 or 8, I told another adult that I had never hit him. To my utter shock, he piped up, "You did when I was two years old." I am pretty sure he was older than two at the time, but not by much. I don't know how he remembered.

Meanwhile, it's funny how we seem to have turned a practical joke thread into a child rearing thread. Moms! Can't live with 'em, can't get born without 'em.

a good sense of humor. We have a difference of what we think is funny.

My particular brand is subtle.. I can laugh right out loud. I hate mean/meant to embarrass people.. kind of "humor" and overkill that is so popular in a lot of movies.

I know I have a good sense of humor, but April Fool's Day brings forth jokes, gags and posts by people who think they have a sense of humor, but don't.

It's going to be a long day

At least they're trying to not be so stuffy and boring. I have found that people are generally more open and relaxed on April Fools day. That's a good thing.

Not me.

Big fan of laughing though.

at the Co-op i work at. I was thinking of making a "rat-tail" soup with a bunch beet tails. Maybe a chicken soup, with cabbage, rice, good stock, herbs, and of course the beet tails... which really do look similar to rat tails.

Unfortunately my boss said no. It wouldda been a good soup though.

really hard core chefs recommend. But, then, she's serve the soup that way, too. I am pretty sure that, if you do use them, you should take them out before serving the soup. Whenever she wielded her ladle at the table, I'd get paralyzed as a kid. Maybe I was trying to prevent her, by sheer will, from putting a chicken foot into my bowl.

Good times.

Anyway, I know from experience that just leaving the chicken feet in the chicken soup will do the trick.

P.S. I loved you anyway, Auntie.

I think it's dumb. lol

online it's like a group of 7 year olds telling the same knock knock joke. Cute but.....

How very quaint.

If you want it to work, pull an April Fools prank on someone in September.

Someone brought in home-made cookies for everyone this morning. A co-worker had a plate with two cookies at her desk. She wasn't around, so I hid the plate at another work station and left a sticky note saying "Thanks for the cookies!"

Unfortunately, the person who had brought in the cookies had left the plate at the co-worker's desk, so when co-worker arrived, she puzzled over my sticky note, and wasn't aware that there had been a plate of cookies there at all.

{Insert sad trombone sfx here}

nowadays. I don't have many friends, and am out of high school, so this holiday doesn't mean much to me anymore.

but I've never been a fan of pranks. I think they are just mean and I don't find them funny for the most part. Some are well done, but the vast majority are stupid and make someone feel like crap. If someone gets upset or hurt, it's not humor, imo.

with a holiday or holiday season makes it worse.

I enjoyed CERN's announcement that they found The Force.

The rest of it, not much.

I'm just glad all I had to do was start working on my taxes, that I didn't have to go anywhere.