My Boy is a ten year old in the fifth grade this year. On Tuesday of this week the parents were invited to his classroom for a Thanksgiving Brunch. Each child in the class had a laminated place mat at his desk that had the child’s name in the center and then around the name were comments from his classmates and teacher as to why they were thankful for him.
Here are the comments from my son’s placemat:
I am thankful for you because you are hilarious.
I am thankful for you because you are my birthday twin.
I am thankful for you because you always stay on task! (?)
I am thankful for you because your father came in for teachin and you are very intelligent kid.
I am thankful for you because… you are hilarious.
I am thankful for you because you are hilarious.
I am thankful for you because you are hilarious and responsible.
I am thankful for you because you make me giggle when you make really good jokes.
I am thankful for you because you are a creative & hysterical person.
I am thankful for you because you are hilarious and you ALWAYS give me a good chuckle.
I am very thankful that you joined my club as a police. P.S. You make me crack up when you say jokes.
I am thankful for you because you make me chuckle.
I am thankful for you because you are a sweet person.
I am thankful for you because you are funny.
I am thankful for you because you are hysterical!
I am thankful for you because you are unique and funny.
I am thankful for you because you are hilarious and you always put a smile on my face.
I am thankful for you because you are the funniest guy I know - lol.
I am thankful for you because you are hilarious and make me crack up all the time.
Dear C, I am thankful for you because you love reading and always write the most interesting letters to me in your Readers Notebook. (from the teacher)
Anyway, I noticed a bit of a trend in these, so I checked other kids’ placemats and this was not a general theme. I was impressed that the spelling was all very good as well.
Well, is he like that at home, or is the reason for the post that he is a perfectly reserved quiet little angel in front of you, and an uproarious laugh riot at school, something you never suspected in your wildest dreams?
Humor has an important part in education: if nothing else, jokes wake people up, and make the class more interesting. I remember concepts much better when they are illustrated by witty analogies.
I’d say it’s a bit of a surprise. He can be funny at home, but mostly I’ve always seen him outside of the house as being incredibly shy and reserved. Over the past year or two I’ve come to learn that he’s not as shy at school, although he’s still pretty shy with kids he hasn’t met before and most adults.
I did ask him about why everyone thought he was so hilarious and I got his standard response: “I don’t know”. He gets good grades and takes advanced courses. I did remind him that he needs to be sure that he remains respectful to his teachers and classmates.
When I was very young, I was considered a funny kid too. It’s even in my School Reports. When I read them recently, I was amazed - how funny could I have been at six years old?
Anyway, it is a great compliment indeed to be considered the “hilarious” kid in the class, in my opinion. I hope he finds an outlet for it.
I was actually voted Class Clown by my classmates the year I graduated. My home life was pretty strict, but starting around 4th grade I figured out that I could get away with a certain amount of shenanigans as long as I did my schoolwork and participated in class. By the time I hit high school I was regularly flustering my teachers even as I made them laugh.
When I was a senior in high school, I was voted Most Humorous. When my parents found out about it, they were completely shocked and questioned me repeatedly about it.
I don’t blame them. At home I was quiet and solemn, especially around them. My parents weren’t abusive or anything, but I just didn’t feel comfortable making them laugh. For my father, I was wary of his temper, so that alone made me quiet around him. And for my mother, she just didn’t get me. I couldn’t be sure that she wouldn’t laugh at me instead of with me. So I didn’t bother.
But at school, it was different. The kids were already laughing at me, so I was used to it. The trick was to be intentionally goofy and silly so that I could distract them from the quirks I couldn’t control. I learned that aloof nerds got teased, but nerds that weren’t afraid of making wise-cracks (especially on the teacher) were beloved. Kids who took their talents too seriously were teased, but kids who used their talents for good old fashioned fun (for instance, drawing hideous monsters and attaching names to them) were popular. I was a class clown from tenth to 12th grade. It was the only way I knew how to cope with awkward adolescence.
I still play the role of the court jester. In staff meetings, I can’t help but point out people’s double entendres or poke fun at the supervisor (bringing a smile to his otherwise serious face). When people are in the breakroom talking about subjects they really shouldn’t be talking about (because the walls have ears), I’ll say something funny to smooth things over. The upside is that people feel comfortable around me, even when the feeling isn’t mutual. But the downside is that people can’t tell when I’m serious. And sometimes I’m afraid to be serious.
So this is my long, rambling way of telling you that your son has an amazing future ahead of him.
I think you should be very proud of the boy. It’s not every day you get ‘‘hilarious’’ and ‘‘responsible’’ in the same sentence. That’s true character right there.
Interesting. I never thought of myself as funny until a classmate called me the class clown and several others nodded their heads in agreement. And I thought that was a bad thing for quite a long time – mostly because at the time I thought of myself as a very serious person. Clearly I was doing something wrong.
Yeah I can go along with monstro’s post. I was considered the class clown all through school but I was also one of the kids who won the academic prizes every year. I was the only one of the smart kids who wasn’t in the nerdy group because I was funny and played football and later on drank.
I too have remained the same and will interject jokes whenever I can. Someone at work recently remarked how boring work is when I 'm not there. The funny thing is she doesn’t even work in my unit - she just eavesdrops on our conversations.
I know people in entertainment and have friends who are/were comedians or comedy writers and did a little writing myself. In my experience you don’t find dumb people that are funny, you don’t even find dumb people with a really sharp sense of humor. If I think about the funniest people I know at work, socially or even family, the funnier they are the smarter they are.
I was thrilled that my 2 sons turned out to be funny kids because I knew they would grow up to be smart and happy adults, and they have.
