There are few things my kids do that leave me stumped. Dropped a penny in the sink disposal? Of course. Burped while talking without missing a beat? That’s old hat.
Last week, though, my son came home from camp with some new tricks up his sleeve.
Remember going to camp as a kid? I have strong memories of sitting in the hot gym of a YMCA wearing a fruit punch-stained t-shirt, my hair caked in to a hard ponytail from swimming, and playing Uno and giving out cootie shots for hours.
And while some of that went down during my son’s week at gym camp, he got schooled in a few other arenas.
First of all, he tried to teach me this hand game called Pikachu. My first impulse was to cry Bullshit! That’s just some animated show, not a hand game! It can’t possibly be a real thing!
I thought perhaps it was some hair brained game made up by some bored kids at his camp, but a quick Google search .
It’s a mashup of Miss Mary Mack and Rock, Paper, Scissors. Except that when you loose your scissor to your friend’s rock, you get to squeeze their cheek with one hand and battle on. The first person to loose twice gets their face smacked.
And now my kids have an open invitation to slap each other. All in the name of good old fashioned fun!
But the best thing he brought home, besides an extra pair of swim goggles and some stranger’s underpants was a thirst for “Your Mama” jokes.
Luckily, his arsenal is G rated. Like “Your mama is so skinny, she hula hoops with a Cheerio.” Here’s where my son’s superhero power of total recall comes in handy. He had about 27 jokes memorized and rattled them off in rapid succession at dinner.
Boom! Zing! Snap!
As he’s firing off one Your Mama missile after another, through my laughter all I’m thinking is “Man, I have absolutely NO comeback.”
I’m horrible at this game. Horribly horrible. I’m one of those people that find the right zinger to say three days after a conversation has taken place. People wouldn’t say I’m quick on the uptake.
So I lost to a 7 year old.
It was hilarious to see him delivering these putdowns with confidence, that wild sparkle in his eye knowing he’s got a kick-ass punchline coming.
Yet, as he was challenging his sister, slamming her mother as being old or fat or stupid, he failed to realize one simple fact.
He was insulting his very own mother.
Guess they didn’t warn him about that in camp.
I totally forgot my sons “your mamma” phase. I think he was about 7 or 8 too. This means my youngest who is 8 is overdue. Well a few your mama jokes would be a nice change of pace from all the Dick and Richard jokes he has picked up!!! I must say I really do get a kick out of little boys, it’s sometimes hard to keep my serious, that’s not appropriate mom face on. Especially when 8 year old says, that’s not appropriate right mom? Thanks for a fun post!
Kathy Radigan recently posted…When it Takes More than a Kiss to Make it All Better
We, thankfully, haven’t ventured in to Dick and Richard jokes yet. I’m not even sure that my son would even know that reference, though it’s only a matter of time. While I love the jokes, what I love even more is that look on their face when they know they’re on to something. It’s hilarious. The first time my son delivered one it was this: What does poop write in? A diarrhea. Ba dum, tish!
I think it’s just a phase! Boys that age are so eager to fit in that they’ll go along even if they don’t really get it. Anyhow, looks like he had a lot of fun at camp!
TK recently posted…Toddler Tales (14): The Acrobat
I do think it’s a phase, but one my son is relishing in at the moment. It’s not all that bad, but we DID have to have a discussion about when and where these types of jokes are appropriate. And lets face it, this is the stuff that we all remember about camp, right?