“Children are a great comfort in your old age. And they help you reach it faster, too!”

I was sitting at home the other day with my daughter and we were talking about how fun it was to tease “mom.” Poor mom takes a lot of teasing in our house (thanks mostly to her loving husband) but she’s usually a good sport about it. Granted that sportsman like attitude usually comes out about two weeks later, but who can blame her. With me spurring our daughter on all the time, I’m sure it’s hard to keep up.

So anyway we were laughing about some of the loving pranks we’ve played on her like locking her out of the house, or holding her down for wet willies, or, my personal favorite, sending my daughter in to take pictures of her while she’s on the toilet. Hey is it my fault she doesn’t lock the door? I don’t think so.

We were going on and on and as we laughed we made up a little game. We called it “The What Game.” It is great fun and it will have your wife/husband wanting to strangle you in no time.

The rules were simple. All she had to do is scrunch her face up with a confused expression and say “What!?” every time mom said something to her. I though the best time for this game would be when my wife had just come home from work or was otherwise exhausted from some other activity, like lavishing me with attention.

So my wife walks in from the garage, tired, distracted and ready to relax:

Mom: “Hi family. How was your day?”

Daughter: “What!?”

Mom: “How was your day?”

Daughter: “What!?”

Mom: “Forget it! Did you guys already eat?”

Daughter: “What!?”

Mom: “I said what did you eat?”

Daughter: “What!?”

Mom: “Knock it off, why are you doing that?”

Daughter: “What?”

Mom: “Saying What”

Daughter: “What!?”

Mom: “Yes What! I’m tired so knock it off. What do you want for dinner?”

Daughter: “What!?”

Mom: “Chuck, do something, I am going to strangle this child.”

Me: “What!?”

Needless to say shoes, frying pans and small animals were flying at this point. I even had to throw my body between her and my daughter after she threw in one last “What?!” at the end.

It was great fun and once mom worked through her homicidal rampage, we all had a good laugh. Well we laughed, she just threatened me within an inch of my life if I ever taught our daughter something like that again.

So try “The What Game” at home. Let me know how it turns out. Maybe we could work out a deal with Hasbro, then we‘d all be rich… or dead.

Happy reading!!