Ben was upset because he couldn't play Donkey Kong as his tablet was out of charge. He was wailing, mostly for attention, so the rest of us took the only course of action prescribed for attention-seekers and ignored him completely. It worked a treat. He ran out of energy and brightened up like a spring afternoon.
I thought it would be fun to make up jokes that made no sense. So we did that. Here are my favourites:
"What did the kangaroo say to the thief?"
"Oi. This is my house." (Sam, aged 6)
"What do vampires do at Christmas?"
*mimed a flapping action and pursed his lips* (Ben, aged 8) I fell about laughing.
"Why did the dog cross the road?"
"Nobody knows." (Sam)
Then I thought I'd set them a challenge. Could they make a poem with only two lines in it? It was an exercise I'd been thinking about myself for a while, and I'd got as far as: it would be an awful folly, poking tigers with a brolly. That took me ages, and considerably more effort than the Niblings needed. Within seconds Ben came up with:
Never put your toes
Up your nose
Which could be the best short poem I have ever heard. And brilliant advice, don't you think? Inspired, Sam had a go at the format and rhymed the first two words he could think of:
Don't pour gravy
On a baby
I think these boys might be geniuses.
*I suppose I should point out to newish readers that the Niblings are my nieces and nephews, of whom there are seven, aged between 6 months and (incredibly) 22 years.
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