What Makes Me Laugh

At the football game today …

Father to young son: “Don’t eat the popcorn off the floor.”

Young son picks up popcorn from bleacher floor and eats it.

Father to young son: “Don’t eat the popcorn off the floor!”

Young son picks up popcorn from bleacher floor and eats it.

Father to young son (exasperated): “Here, have some gum instead.”

Young son chews gum and seems to like it.

Father to wife (satisfied): “There, that should keep him from eating the popcorn.”

Young son runs off to play with friends at end of bleacher.

Young son returns after five minutes.

Father notices gum all over young son’s hair.

Father to young son (while picking out white strands of gum from back of head): “Haven’t you ever chewed gum before?”

Father picks out gum from hair for approximately fifteen minutes.

Young son picks up popcorn from bleacher floor and eats it.

Father to young son: “Oh fine, go ahead and eat the popcorn.”

And I laughed out loud.

I don’t hang out that much on YouTube. Perhaps it goes along with my aversion to “reality” television, which couldn’t get any more fake. But my brother-in-law revealed that YouTube holds at least a few more chuckles than I thought, when he called and directed me to search for phrases like, “little girl and monsters” last night. So, thanks to Don, I have a few children’s videos to share with you today that are guaranteed to make you laugh and ponder the great wisdom that can come out of a young child’s mouth.

For a warm up, let’s just start with the giggles. The short, “4 Laughing Babies” is about as anti-intellectual as you can get. There’s just something about these babies laughing that is totally infectious and I don’t really know why. Go ahead. Have a giggle.

For the little girl in this next video, monsters are nothing to be feared. In fact, she’s convinced she can beat ‘em up. I think she’ll be the next Kristen Schaal.

In “Charlie bit my finger” we ponder the fact that even babies can be sadists. Especially when we see the younger brother grin after chewing a bit on his brother’s finger. Oh, anyone who has a sibling can relate to this.

Finally, there is this post-modern, Barbaric Yawp of a video called “David After Dentist” in which a child asks, “Why is this happening to me?” and other great philosophical questions of his father after his dental treatment. The video below is part of a series from the David After Dentist blog.