Boys Will Be Boys (A Serious Discussion on Children's Discussions) ©

I grew up the middle child of 5 kids. To me, talk about gross things like farting, poo and snot was an everyday kind of thing. Every child knows that adults really don't like to talk about these things, but for children since the beginning of time, bodily functions and their emissions continue to be a great source of amusement and fascination.

Perhaps it is simply the fact that these things are considered an inappropriate item for conversation by adults, that they remain in the top ten items for serious discussion by children.

As a child, we kids were not allowed to use the word "fart". If fact, we could not even say "bum" as these were considered swear words. Instead for fart we had to say "fluff" or "pop off" and bum was "backside" or "bottom". My parents would have preferred we didn't make mention of them at all, or at least my Dad pretended they were not to be spoken of.

My Dad was like a big kid at times. He loved to play practical jokes, and when it came to farting, he had various creative methods to refer to them. One of his preferred things was to blame our dog "Peanut" whenever he farted. For years, I thought our dog had a bowel problem, because it never crossed my mind that my father might be telling us a fib about something he didn't even like hearing mentioned.

We used to love Dad's practical jokes. He would spring them on us at every opportunity and I can't tell you the number of times I fell for them. The funny thing now is that I love to play the occasional practical joke myself, which is definitely a result of the experiences from my own childhood. 

My 11 year old JD, has also come to enjoy practical jokes and we try to outsmart each other at every opportunity. While until recently I would have said we were on par, with each of us having been able to trick the other about the same number of times, I think my youngster will win this competition before his teenage years are over!

JD is also a typical kid when it comes to the human body and despite asking him numerous times not to provide details about his farts, snot etc, he somehow feels it is necessary to regularly present us with sensory input into this part of his world, including sight, smell and sound.

Just the other day he was trying to clear his throat and made a sound like he was spitting out of the car window. "Oh yuck!" was my response.

Despite my protests, JD went on to describe in detail the pretend phlegm that he had spat up from his throat. He finished with "Do you know, I think I'll call him Roger."

Boys will be boys! ©