I came upstairs to use my computer one day
and found someone was there before me. This little Ender Man obviously had a
burning desire to play Minecraft. Either that or Baby Duck has a very silly
sense of humour.
I didn’t say anything, just moved the Ender
Man. I set him up in front of the TV, remote control in hand and 3D glasses on
(do you know how hard it is to put a pair of glasses on something that has no
ears or nose??). When Baby Duck came to see what I thought of his surprise he
was highly amused.
That kid makes me laugh. He has quite a dry
wit. Watching kids grow and develop is fascinating in many ways, and the
development of a sense of humour is one of them. When they’re little they often
make you laugh, but at that stage it’s unintentional (and often at their
expense). By the time they start school they’re trying very hard to get a
handle on how jokes work, and often failing in hilarious ways.
Demon Duck’s first attempt to make up a
joke was:
Q: Why did the chicken knit a scarf?
A: To keep her eggs warm.
We still laugh about that one. The poor
baby couldn’t understand why her joke wasn’t funny. By age 7 or 8 they
understand what makes a joke funny, and can retell ones they’ve heard, but it’s
not till about 9 or 10 that they start to come up with original situational
humour.
One recent Saturday morning, Drama Duck,
who is not a morning person, was flopping around on a couch resisting all efforts
to get her moving. I asked her several times to get up and have breakfast, but
groans were my only reply.
Her brother gave her a withering look.
“Have breakfast,” he advised. “It’s brain
food. You need it.”
