I am by nature a prankster. This post is a bit premature but I like to get on things early. I remember an April fool’s Day prank I pulled on my daughter, then 9 years old. When she woke up that morning I told her we were going on a trip to the aquarium today instead of school, she loves the aquarium. I set it up great, told her to get an extra set of clothes together just in case she got wet during the sea lion show, told her to pack a lunch just as if she were going to school because we weren’t going to buy lunch up there — it’s expensive you know.
This next part was classic. All of a sudden she remembers its april fools day and as she is getting ready she says, “Oh yeah! it’s April Fools Day, Dad, you’re not getting me today! I’m keeping it on my mind, and you wont get me!” So to keep her guard down, I looked out the window and told her there was a camel outside, and she obviously knew there wasn’t. Then she asked if there would be a movie on the bus trip back, if she could get a souvenir and an array of other questions about the trip all the while telling me she was too smart for a prank.
So just before it was time to leave I told her I needed to check my voice mail and what do you know: “Oh no!” I sulked in disappointment “we can’t go to the aquarium today because it’s April Fools Day.” What made it even better was that she thought me telling her we weren’t going was the joke! “Uh-uh, you won’t fool me, I know we’re going to the aquarium”. I start laughing, and my wife too. Then her face drops. “We’re not?? Then where am I going?” she asks with despair. “You’re going to school Ms. too-smart-to-be-fooled”. “I hate school! You’re mean!”
It was great. What really made it was her telling me I couldn’t fool her because she was too smart. But she was a great sport, and I’m sure some day I will be on the end of a great prank, she’s pretty clever. She told me that morning my camera was broken, I knew it wasn’t, but she already knows the route she will need to go to get me good.
How bad have you gotten someone, or been on the receiving end of a good April Fool’s Day prank?
Sifting Reality 
Jeez, John. That was kinda cruel.
We don’t do “April Fool” in our house; that’s my wife’s birthday!
John Barron Jr, we also have Aprils foo day in Finland, but I really can not see what was funny about what you did to your daughter. I know many jokes do not work when they have been explained, but do you really think it was funny, that you managed to fool and dissappoint a little girl?
I do believe your intention is not to teach your kid to lie convincingly, but this kind of “fun” seems to lead to that very end. Why? Are you trying to teach her to deal with dissappointments or to learn how to recognize a lie? You must have some better goal in mind, than just to have low fun on the expence of your very own daughter.
It must be some cultural difference why I can not get it. Where I come from, that kind of “joke” would be seen not only as “cruel”, but also as totally deranged.
you are a bit too rigid
That could be it. We are a “rigid” people. Being broody is one of our national traits. That explains why I can not understand the fun in your joke, but it still kind of leaves the joke unexplained. Oh, well. Some jokes just can not be explained.