Poisson d'Avril!

(This informative, trick-and-joke-free post was originally published April 1, 2008.)I’m not going to play any tricks on you today, even though it’s April 1st. I’ll leave it to your coworkers and children to create and execute some elaborate and annoying jokes.Instead, I’ll be informative.In France and French-speaking Belgium today, kids try to stick a paper fish on the back of a friend without him noticing it (if you want to offer a little cross-cultural lesson to your kiddoes, Crayola promotes the idea with a craft suggestion at this site). Then the kids shout “poisson d’avril” until the victim realizes he’s the goober walking around with a fish stuck on his back. The victim is the “poisson d’avril,” because he was “caught” by the joke, like a naive young fish. How Stuff Works offers a short explanation of this French tradition.But any little April Fool’s joke can be a “poisson d’avril.” Putting salt in sugar bowls and sugar in salt shakers, boy, those are classic. Or there’s the old water-on-the-door trick, where the bucket tips when the door is opened all the way. Whoopee cushions could be great for a grade school boy, or he could try the buzzer-handshake gadget. And today I saw one suggestion online that I’d never heard of before–putting toothpaste around the sides of an Oreo cookie.I’ll bet a few bloggers will make up a crazy story to see if they can catch you, like a fish, in their April Fool’s trick.My kinder, gentler approach is to to play no tricks, and yet keep with the French fish theme. I’m going to send you to a website for younger kids that I read about.It’s a French site called Poisson Rouge.It offers simple, interesting games for younger kids. Given that, some parents won’t want kids to be on screens at that age at all. But if your young one wants to do something fun online for a few minutes, this site is cute without selling anything (like Webkinz), nor do they offer advertising or marketing gimmicks tied in with other products (like Disney, Nick, Barbie, or Cartoon Network sites).Have a fun April Fool’s Day … and before sipping your tea this afternoon, be sure to check the sugar bowl.