I’m visiting extended family for the first time in a long time, and one of my nieces has reached the impressionable age where she keeps mimicking things that she sees me do. what’s a really funny but fairly harmless thing I should teach her to do?
The Macarena and/or the YMCA dance, it’s fun for kids to do over and over but harmless.
Juggling?
Play chess.
Do the burp trick by swallowing air, and then giggle uncontrollably.
End every other sentence with ~ nya ~
If she’s the right age, Teach her The Game. It’s a brain virus game.
Rule number 1 of The Game, you can not think about The Game. When you think about The Game you lose.
Rule number 2, when you think of The Game you have to say that you’ve lost The Game. Ideally loudly and publicly.
Rule number 3, after losing the game you get 30 minutes grace period to stop thinking about it before The Game starts again.
Rule number 4, once you have learned about the game you may either play the game or cheat.
Dangit. It’s been years. You flipping flipper.
It’s been a while. But now I lost the game again…
You beat me to it.
Start em young.
Also I lost the game.
I taught my niece to say “I can’t work like this!”. That was fun!
Pull my finger.
I have had pretty good luck with doing
High five Up high Down low Too slow
My nephew would just let me do it forever, always trying to beat me on the too slow bit.
The drums.
Or a less chaotic-evil suggestion, that water-drop sound made by flicking your cheek.
I think the water drop sound with your mouth is more chaotic evil than drums.
I’ve thought my niece that policemen go “oink oink” and that pigs go “You have the right to remain silent!”
I’ve thought that too.
- Beatboxing. “Boots and cats and boots and cats”-style.
- The pulling your thumb off trick.
- The Macarena.
- “The Game”. (“You just lost The Game.”)
- Chopsticks on the piano/keyboard/toy xylophone/etc.
- “The Name Game.”
Impressions. Cartoon characters are best
i decided to let her watch Smackdown with me. we’ll see what she picks up as a surprise for mom & dad
Oh great, show the niece thinly-veiled gay porn, aye
Greasy, grimy gopher guts
Mutilated monkey meat
Dirty little birdy feet
Floatin in snake eyeballsToo
Bad
I
Forgot
My
Spoon
But I got my straaaaaawwwwww. sluuuuurp
Wow!!! This is fascinating-- I was raised with
Great big gobs of Greasy, Grimy, Gopher Guts Propagated Porcus Puts Sterilized Monkey Eyes, And me without a spoon! scoop Too Bad!
I think my mom was crazy on second thought
A good mom is always a little crazy lol.
I’ve heard that version, and there was a version of the one I wrote out that started “great green gobs” too.
You wanna know what’s surprising though? We were taught the song in school, by the elementary music teacher. She’d come through the district one school at a time, once a week and we’d have music class. Basic rhythm instruments (like those ridged sticks you rub together that we canned rhythm sticks, maracas, cabasas, etc) and folk songs and such.
It was awesome. Mrs Gore was her name. Really tall blonde lady with an incredible voice that had infinite patience with kids that couldn’t sing worth a damn lol.
I’ve never been good at rote memorization, but I remember every damn song she taught us.
Michael row your boat ashore, Puff the magic dragon, she’ll be comin round the mountain, Mary Mack, John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith (usually pronounced Yon Yacob Yingleheimer), and a bunch more.
Oh man, and my entire class when I was in second grade took part in a school show, where each class did a song. We did Amazing Grace, and there were tears among the parents, and not just of boredom or because we sounded like a random group of kids trying to sing lol. We wore these blue vests and pants (I think the girls could choose to wear skirts, I remember that not all did, but not any discussion about it). It was so damn fun.
