One of the many joys I take in being the parent of a ten year old boy is finding new ways to make him laugh or think a little differently about questions and things in the world. I’ve used these techniques over the years:
===
Ttraskuratx mistoqsijiet tiegħu:
Tagħha: F'liema ġurnata huwa?
Dad: Jum wieħed qabel l-erbgħa.
S: Mhux, f'liema ġurnata tax-xahar huwa?
D: Oh, huwa 4 jum wara Jan 25.
===
Tickle lilu u tgħidlu int ser tieqaf meta jieqaf laughing.
===
Jinżlu taraġ għall-kamra tat-TV u jħabbar, "It’s good to be the daddy." Imbagħad, pick up lilu biex jiksbu l-post sħun fuq il-couch u jibdlu l-kanal għal xi ħaġa tajba, bħall-kanal Scifi.
===
Read stories out loud. Insert ridiculous sentences in the middle of the story. My favorite is to add "killing him instantly" when the main characters encounters some minor trouble. Per eżempju, "the knife slipped in his hand, qtugħ indiċi finger tiegħu, qtil lilu istantanjament." Nothing quite gets your son out of a complacent and passive listening mode as the main character being killed instantly.
===
Read stories incorrectly. Read sentences backward. The best part of this is that the first couple of times I did this, my son thought he was helping me out by pointing out that I wasn’t reading the words in the right order. The down side is that he really doesn’t want me to read to him any more.
===
Go to Burger King for lunch. My son would eat BK morning, night and day if we let him. When going, tgħidlu, "I know you hate going there, but we simply have no choice." When he tries to explain that he loves BK, talk over him and say things like "We don’t have time to argue about it! We’re going and I don’t want to have a discussion!"
(Dan tfakkarni ta Joke tiegħi Borg favoriti: "Borger King: We do it our way. Your way is irrelevant." hahaha!)
===
Iftaħ ktieb għall-paġna 9 u jgħidu, "hmm, that’s an odd page".
===
Fill the world with arch enemies. "We’re going to run quick over toe 7-11, arch-enemy of 11-7".
"Your aunt lives in Ringwood, ghadu arch għall-belt ta 'Squarewood."
===
Aħna sewqan sa Massachusetts minn New Jersey diversi drabi fis-sena u ħafna drabi tieħu madwar 5 hours door to door. As we arrive home and pull into the driveway say, "oh, I nesa, għandna bżonn li jagħmlu sing malajr biex Home Depot."
===
Meta jaraw episodju vjolenti fi juru TV (bħal Eroj), tell iben tiegħek, "some times, fuq ix-xogħol, I need to destroy my enemies by burning them alive using the powers of my mind. I don’t like doing it, imma inti gotta tagħmel dak li gotta tagħmel."
===
Meta jaraw films orrur ħżiena (see "It’s good to be the Daddy" hawn fuq), ascribe improbable motives to the evil character. Per eżempju, tell your son that the reason Jason is so angry is because he wants some cake and they won’t let him have any.
===
Explain phone numbers incorrectly. Instead of telling your son to dial "201-111-2222", tell him it’s "2-011-1-12222".
===
What tricks tuza?
</aħħar>