Don't Drop Your Towel!

  “Let’s play a little joke on someone,” said one of my children.  Being a mom my ears

perk up when I hear statements such as this.  It is my responsibility to teach my children

to be kind to one another.  I ask what are the intentions of the teaser?  Are the intentions

to be annoying and hurtful?  Or are the intentions to be playful and affectionate?  

     Over the 19 years of homeschooling my three children, we developed a daily routine

of arising at 8 o’clock, dressing, eating breakfast, feeding the cats and dog, and starting

school by 9 o’clock, eating lunch at noon and watching The Andy Griffith Show, and

hitting the books again at 1 o’clock in the afternoon.  Our school day was completed

around 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon.  After school we prepared for evening extracurricular

activities.

     “Mom, I just finished my history report!  Can I take a shower and then watch TV,”

asks Christopher?  He was excited for our upcoming evening’s activities.  On the

particular evening we were going out to eat supper before attending church.

     “Go ahead,” I reply.

     Christopher grabbed a towel and scampered down the hall to the shower.  Stephanie

and Hannah finished their homeschool assignments.  We all felt good about what was

accomplished during the day.  The three of us were laughing as we put away our school

books in the closet.  Hannah stopped and said, “Mom, I have an idea!  I am going to tease

Christopher!  I am going to hide under the blankets on the top his bunk bed.  When

Christopher returns, I am going to pop up and scare him,” she giggled.  “I want to stir

him up a bit.”

     “I suppose, but do not embarrass him,” I cautioned.

     Hannah climbed onto the top bunk and placed the blankets on top of her.  She silently

waited for her victim.  A happy Christopher, holding a towel around his waist, trots down

the hall and into his room.  “Thump,” the door closes!  All was silent for a moment.  It

was almost like the quiet before the storm.  Stephanie and I look at each other smiling

anticipating the reaction about to happen.

     As Christopher stands in front of his closet, Hannah peers out from underneath the

blankets.  Chris, pulling a light blue shirt and blue jeans from his closet with his back

turned toward Hannah.  Hannah yells, “Hey Christopher!  How are you doing?”

     “Aaaaaaaa!” yelled Christopher.  Christopher was so startled he almost dropped his

towel.  In frustration he demanded, “What are you doing in here?  Hannah, you get out of

here right now!”

     Obtaining the reaction she wanted, Hannah jumped off the bed and out of

Christopher’s room.  She runs up to me and bends over laughing.

     “Hannah, that was so ornery,” Stephanie said, “but it was funny!”

     “I know!” she giggled again.

     A few minutes later Christopher walks out of his room laughing.  “You played a good

joke on me Hannah!  I am glad I didn’t drop my towel!” 

     Hannah says, “Me, too!”

     Teasing should never be hurtful.  One doesn’t really know how the joke will be taken. 

The real test is if someone else finds the joke funny or not.  Does the person being teased

find the joke as friendly?  Teasing should be used in a way to make people feel closer.