Ready for Kids?
MESS TEST
Smear peanut butter on the sofa and curtains. Place a fish stick behind the
couch and leave it there all summer.
TOY TEST
Obtain a 55 gallon box of Legos (or you may substitute roofing tacks). Have a
friend spread them all over the house. Put on a blindfold. Try to walk to the
bathroom or kitchen.
Do not scream because this would wake a child at night.
GROCERY STORE TEST
Borrow one or two small animals (goats are best) and take them with you as you
shop. Always keep them in sight and pay for anything they eat or damage.
DRESSING TEST
Obtain one large, unhappy, live octopus. Stuff into a small net bag making sure
that all the arms stay inside.
FEEDING TEST
Obtain a large plastic milk jug. Fill halfway with water.
Suspend from the ceiling with a cord. Start the jug swinging. Try to insert
spoonfuls of soggy cereal into the mouth of the jug, while pretending to be an
airplane. Now dump the contents of the jug on the floor.
NIGHT TEST
Prepare by obtaining a small cloth bag and fill it with 8-12 pounds of sand.
Soak it thoroughly in water. At 3:00p.m. begin to waltz and hum with the bag
until 9:00p.m. Lay down your bag and set your alarm for 10:00p.m.Get up, pick up
your bag, and sing every song you have ever heard. Make up about a dozen more
and sing these too until 4:00a.m. Set alarm for 5:00a.m. Get up and make
breakfast. Keep this up for 5 years. Look cheerful.
INGENUITY TEST
Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and pot of paint, turn it into an
alligator. Now take a toilet paper tube and turn it into an attractive Christmas
candle. Use only scotch tape and a piece of foil. Last, take a milk carton, a
ping-pong ball, and an empty box of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the
Eiffel Tower.
AUTOMOBILE TEST
Forget the BMW and buy a station wagon. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put
it in the glove compartment. Leave it there. Get a dime. Stick it into the
cassette player. Take a family size package of chocolate chip cookies. Mash them
into the back seat. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car. There,
perfect.
PHYSICAL TEST (Women)
Obtain a large bean bag chair and attach it to the front of your clothes. Leave
it there for 9 months. Now remove 10 of the beans. And try not to notice your
closet full of clothes. You won't be wearing them for a while.
PHYSICAL TEST (Men)
Go to the nearest drug store. Set your wallet on the counter. Ask the clerk to
help himself. Now proceed to the nearest food store. Go to the head office and
arrange for your pay check to be directly deposited to the store. Purchase a
newspaper. Go home and read it quietly for the last time.
FINAL ASSIGNMENT
Find a couple who already have a small child. Lecture them on how they can
improve their discipline, patience, tolerance, toilet training and child's table
manners. Suggest many ways they can improve. Emphasize to them that they should
never allow their children to run wild. Enjoy this experience. It will be the
last time you will have all the answers.
MUSIC TEST
On your expensive CD player and awesome speakers, play Britney Spears and Steps
over and over again, very loud. Dance to it while looking happy. Take a good
long look at your CD collection. You won't be hearing them for a long, long
time.
In the car, play Postman Pat and Silly Songs Collection (for 3 - 6 year olds,
Early Learning Centre) tapes for four hours while driving down the M5. Whatever
you do don't play what YOU want. Sing along to the music in a traffic jam.
When relaxing and playing your own CDs (rare), suddenly put on a cheapo cassette
player in the room playing Aqua's Barbie Girl. Turn off your CD and walk out of
the room. Move on to Mess Test II.
MESS TEST II
After spending two hours cleaning the house, put rags and old shoes in the
hallway by the front door. Leave pieces of cloth on the stairs in a pleasing
random fashion. Pick them all up and put them in a wooden box. Do the same thing
everyday for ten years.
BOOK TEST
Spend at least fifty pounds on expensive picture books. Draw in them in
indelible pen and leave them in the garden. Make sure it's raining. Smile
affectionately to yourself.