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:

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Misconstrue maswali yake:

Yake: Siku gani ni?

Baba: Siku moja kabla ya Jumatano.

S: Si, nini siku ya mwezi ni?

D: Oh, ni 4 siku baada ya Jan 25.

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Tekenya naye na kumwambia wewe itabidi kuacha wakati yeye ataacha laughing.

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Kwenda chini ya ngazi ya chumba TV na kutangaza, "It’s good to be the daddy." Kisha, kumchukua kupata doa joto juu ya kitanda na kubadili channel kitu kizuri, kama channel SciFi.

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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. Kwa mfano, "the knife slipped in his hand, kukata index kidole chake, kumuua papo hapo." Nothing quite gets your son out of a complacent and passive listening mode as the main character being killed instantly.

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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.

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Go to Burger King for lunch. My son would eat BK morning, night and day if we let him. When going, kumwambia, "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!"

(Hii inanikumbusha utani favorite Borg: "Borger King: We do it our way. Your way is irrelevant." hahaha!)

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Kufungua kitabu ukurasa 9 na kusema, "hmm, that’s an odd page".

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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, Arch adui wa mji wa Squarewood."

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Sisi kuendesha hadi Massachusetts kutoka New Jersey mara kadhaa kwa mwaka na mara nyingi inachukua kuhusu 5 hours door to door. As we arrive home and pull into the driveway say, "oh, Nimesahau, tunahitaji kufanya dash haraka Home Depot."

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Wakati kuangalia sehemu ya vurugu katika TV show (kama vile Heroes), kuwaambia mwanao, "some times, kazini, I need to destroy my enemies by burning them alive using the powers of my mind. I don’t like doing it, lakini gotta kufanya nini gotta kufanya."

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Wakati kuangalia sinema horror mbaya (see "It’s good to be the Daddy" juu ya), ascribe improbable motives to the evil character. Kwa mfano, tell your son that the reason Jason is so angry is because he wants some cake and they won’t let him have any.

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Explain phone numbers incorrectly. Instead of telling your son to dial "201-111-2222", tell him it’s "2-011-1-12222".

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Mbinu gani unaweza kutumia?

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