Teach your children well

Moms and Dads teach us things; that is part of why they love being Moms and Dads. It makes them feel happy and fulfilled that they can pass on knowledge or techniques that amaze and delight us and that we can find useful throughout our own lives.

My mom taught me so many things besides the basic life skills and values that have served me well. She taught me how to love and care for animals and nature, how to knit, sew, draw, make wonderful things from ordinary things...the list is very long.

In the top five of the list of useful things she taught me is this entertaining practical joke which I have used numerous times, the reaction always being the same: "What the @#$%*", followed by: "How? Whu? Huh?" It's the weekend, so thought I would share this in case you felt like making your kids' eyes pop out or perplexing an adult who thinks s/he can figure anything out.

Thread a smallish needle. Smaller is better; I only used the crow bar sized one for the sake of clarity. Bananas have flat areas and ridges, so start on a ridge and work your way around the diameter of the banana. Insert the needle and staying just below the peel, exit on the next ridge. Leave a bit of a tail on the thread; don't pull it all the way through. Insert needle through the same hole and continue around until you exit through the first hole. (About five 'stitches' ought to do it) Hold both ends of the thread and pull out to slice the banana in half.

From the outside, if you were careful, it isn't evident that the banana has been modified...yet, when the victim peels it, it falls in two pieces, appearing to be magically sliced, inside the peel! You have to look innocent and play along, pretending not to know how such a thing could have happened. The best part is, unless it tumbles to the ground and collects too many dog hairs to remove, its still edible!