Maya and I were swimming at the local pool, hanging out by ourselves in the deep end (my former disdain for waterwings is utterly gone, for they allow us to hang out in the deep end!), and Maya declared, “Now it’s time for everyone else to go home.”
I chuckled. “Are you the boss of the pool, Maya?”
“I’m pretending to be the boss of the pool,” she replied.
Then we laughed, and as jokes tend to do, this one persisted. Within the next couple of days, I asked Maya if she was pretending to be the boss of: the school, the park, the skating rink, the library, the house, the weather, the dinner table, me, her dad, our dinner guests, and the space-time continuum.
We chuckled, and we laughed. It was a good joke! I passed it along to some friends and family.
The problem with jokes is that they get stale. And while some jokes can be a light-hearted way to draw a person’s attention to bad behavior, I guess that doesn’t really work with three- (ahem! almost four-) year-olds.
“Are you pretending to be…” became withering. No more laughing, no more chuckles. But the Boss? she lives on in her full glory.
If anyone has any suggestions, I’m ready to hear them.
Just Kidding 