Wise Up April Fool!

Wait a minute, it that milk blue?  Uh hmm.

 What on earth is an April Fool?

Even historians do not know for sure, which is probably half the fun, but there is much speculation. There are all sorts of legends, but when recognition of a certain day or tradition survives the test of time, it gets me thinking. What is it that makes us pay attention?

For those who know me well, it is not surprise that I cannot just let it go. I have to know! At least, as much as possible, I want to learn more about the origin. I have a motto that I quote all the time to my children.

Do everything on purpose!

By that, I mean know what you are doing, and know WHY you are doing it. If you don't have a good reason, then DON'T do it. Don't just go along with the crowd. Don't just do it because it has always been done that way. Always know why you do what you do and do it on purpose. In other words, THINK!

This makes me dig deep into the origins of lots of things. I once heard a story or a lady who always sawed off the bone of a ham before baking it. Her daughters all did the same. Many years later, they asked themselves why they did that, so they decided to ask their mother why she did that when other people do not. Her answer? "Well, it would not fit in my baking pan." :-) For years, her daughters had gone to all that trouble unnecessarily because they did not know WHY they were doing it.

So, how does this fit with April Fool's Day? How does someone like me, who takes a VERY strong stance against lying, find anything to celebrate about a day full of dishonest practice. Frankly, there were many years, I stubbornly refused to even acknowledge such a "foolish" use of a day, and I certainly would never condone lying even in the name of fun, even now. So, when I had all little children, it was easy enough to ignore it.

Guess what? They don't stay little. So, I switched gears and decided to actually teach them about the origins of this day, as far as we could know. At the very least, a common thread is about the calendar. Studying the calendar is a power packed unit study in itself. So we started there. I helped them to see that it is important to know history and not to assume that things have always been the same. Legend says that there was a change in the calendar from the New Year being marked in the Spring to celebrating it January first. Those who did not comply were taunted and pranked. Other traditions from different cultures flavor the common activities but what survives is a light-hearted day of shaking things up, a waking up from the winter doldrums.

For our family, we decided to make the most of it. First of all, this once a year, sort of upside down day reminds us that we are grateful for the relative order that we have on other days. There is a comfort in a predictable, sense of organization that keeps our world running smoothly. Even though each family, each city or country or religious groups have their own unique calendars, what would happen if we did not have a common calendar used world wide?

Secondly, I decided that this would be a day that we would also realize the benefits of wisdom. I still don't like lying, and as much as humanly possible I resist it. I don't allow it on April 1; it happens, but I fuss about it. What I do allow is pranking, as you will soon see. On a day of concentrated pranking, even a small child quickly learns what it means to be alert, cautious, discerning. This crazy day is a fun way to teach them to THINK and be keenly aware, to think before you act, to ask more questions.

Note: We do not allow any pranking that is harmful or that singles someone out. We are also very careful to have fun. It is very tongue-in-cheek, not hurtful. We have a rule, that it is never funny if your laughter is a result of making someone else cry.

So here is a peek at out April 1, 2011 Discernment Training!




Ahhh! The old dreaded tape the sink sprayer trick.  No matter how many years someone does this, we all fall for it again.  Sometimes repeatedly throughout the day.  As soon as one person takes off the tape, someone else will put it back on.

One prank that has not survived was one year someone decided to use packing tape to cover the opening of the toilet seat.  Not only did this cause lots of embarrassment, but I had the culprit of this UNAUTHORIZED prank to do all the cleaning up.  That eliminated that prank pronto.








This year, I pulled out a new trick and tinted the milk and coffee creamer blue.  I even got my older kiddos with this one.  Not to be outdone, Amy added water and blue food coloring to some leftover coffee that looked like coffee, but poured out blue.  Hilarious!








We try to have an April Fool's dinner each year.  The first year I did it was really fun because I truly fooled everyone except my helper Mary.  We said it was an upside down dinner and we would have dessert first.  We had made a meatloaf cake.  We baked meatloaf in round cake pans, then iced it with thick mashed potatoes, decorated with cherry tomato halves that looked like real cherries. We served it on a cake plate and they all licked their chops ready for chocolate cake---dessert first----what a surprise!  Low lights and candle light helped. :-)  Then for the meal we served cocoa rice crispie treats made in a loaf pan and sliced thick to look like real meat loaf and we stirred up softened vanilla ice cream in a dish to look like mashed potatoes with a dark caramel gravy.




Now they know I will do something to turn the meal upside down, but they don't know what. This year we make Faux Strawberry Cream Pie (Shepherd's Pie with Pink tinted mashed potatoes)

For our meal, I mean dessert, I mean, I don't know, we had "Fakin' and Eggs."  The eggs were melted marshmallow cream with apricot centers and the fakin' bacon was softened tootsie rolls and caramels stacked, sliced and molded to look like the real thing.  Too sweet to eat very much, but it was fun.

We also usually set the table upside down. Sometimes we wear clothes backwards or inside out.  Younger children think that is outrageously funny and older ones decline. ;-)

Ahhhh! Now it is April 2 and the pranks cease until next year.  Everyone around here knows that pranking any other time is a very risky business and might end up costing them tons of extra work, so they enjoy it to the fullest on that one day and then we move on, hopefully a little wiser and no worse for the wear.

http://www.snopes.com/holidays/aprilfools/aprilfools.asp

http://familyfun.go.com/april-fools-day/