Delayed Humor Response

When we took our trip to Missouri back in May, we took our kids by this dam that created the Lake of the Ozarks. It was not far from the resort we were staying at so we thought we'd check it out. Taking a cue from National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation, we followed suit and made jokes about not seeing any dam gift shop where we could get start a dam tour with a dam tour guide or buy some dam pictures so we took our own dam pictures, etc. My wife & I thought it was kind of funny and yet appropriate for the scenario this went on for a few minutes and our kids had no comment or reaction to our play on words.

Fast forward to this week when we drive by a fenced yard not far from our house that has a donkey in it. I notice it and, in the same light and humor as reflected on above, I say "ass" in a tone that suggests I'm calling someone a jerk. My wife & kids are in the car at the time and my wife, who obviously didn't see the donkey surprisingly shocked asks, "What did you just say?" I explained the situation and, since our kids were in the car (at least for our 7 year old), turned in to a teaching moment about how sometimes words can have 2 different meanings and that this particular word is another name for a donkey as referenced in the Bible but today we more commonly just say donkey since we don't want to mistakenly swear (as kids sometimes call each other names of animals when pretending or just being mean ie; chicken, cow, pig, etc)

This of course led to how two words that sound the same can also have different meanings and one can be a swear word. So we asked the 7 year old, "What do you call that thing that beavers make that holds back lots of water?" Having recently learned about beavers at the library she knew the answer right away and answered, "Dam." We pointed out how it sounds like a swear word but it's not when used in the right context and then of course recounted our dam jokes from Missouri. We paused and several seconds passed and I looked back at my daughter with a look that seemed to indicate concentration and that the gears were spinning in her head. After a few moments we hear her say calmly but like she just figured something out, "Hey, that's funny. You should turn that into a joke."

My wife & I busted out with laughter at the delayed humor response from our wonderfully intelligent child. We had made these same jokes 2 months ago and she just now gets it. She didn't laugh though, it was just a response of sudden understanding. Perhaps she regarded it as the same kind and level of funny as the joke she recently read to me off of a Popsicle stick..."What is the most important thing to remember when going skateboarding?...A skateboard." Of course I didn't know it was supposed to be a joke when she asked me so I answered "helmet" as expected. I saw the Popsicle stick in her hand as she read the answer to me. She's going to love it when she gets that history or science teacher in school that thinks they're funny because they memorize jokes from the Laffy Taffy candy wrappers. (We'll always remember you Mr. Swanson who dressed like and saluted Mr. Rogers.)