Parents Share The Funniest Things Their Kids Did That They Couldn't Laugh About At The Time

As an experienced parent, people often ask me what my biggest challenges have been.
I'll be honest, aside from the whole "gotta keep 'em alive" thing - the hardest thing about parenting for me has been that I have a loud face and kids are HILARIOUS.
But I'm just supposed to sit here and not laugh!?
Reddit user ViolatingBadgersasked:
"Parents of Reddit, what hilarious thing did your child do that you wanted to laugh at, but had to hold it in because you also didn't want to encourage them?"
If you laugh at the hilarious stuff kids do, they'll do it more. Positive reinforcement in action.
But that's how you get kids who call others peasants ... plus all this stuff.
Slap-a-Pus
"My boys could not pronounce the word platypus. They somehow defaulted to 'slap-a-pus.' "
- DiAb505
" 'Oh, a slap-a-pus.' *audible gasp* "
" 'PERRY THE SLAP-A-PUS?!' "
- BronzeAgeTea
"I have changed my ways. Next time I go to the zoo, I will say slap-a-pus"
- KinaGrace96
Peasants
"My five-year-old went through a phase where whenever she was mad, she would call people (or cats, or Lego, or whatever she was upset at) 'Filthy peasants!' "
"She would also say to me, 'Mooom! (Babybrother)'s being impudent!' "
"I worry that without in-person school and being around kids her own age, she's gotten REALLY used to being around just adults and her personal mini-minion."
"She's gonna be a dictator, but there's nothing funnier than an imperiously furious five-year-old."
- WhateverCORE2021
So Delicious
"Just a few nights ago, I pulled a stick of butter out of the fridge to see a perfect bite mark taken from the end."
"I call my 6 year old daughter into the kitchen and now have to keep a straight face as she tells me that she must have left the door open and one of the dogs bit the butter."
"She kept up this story even as I SHOWED her the bite marks, INCLUDING the gap from her missing bottom tooth."
"FINALLY, she admits to it and, when asked why, dramatically says 'I couldn't help it, it just looked so DELICIOUS!' "
- dementedpixie
"My mom would have to hide the sticks of butter in the fridge when I was a toddler."
"I would sneak out of my room in the middle of the night and eat them."
- Singingpineapples
"This is super cute - gross as hell but adorable."
- chriscookbuilds
Seamless
"Not a parent but a teacher."
"This student in one of my high school classes was answering a question and having a bit of trouble. Another kid chimed in to say something, maybe give her a hint I don't know."
"Anyway, she just looked at him and dead pan said 'Eat my bootyhole' and then continued her train of thought without pause. She intended for it to be under her breath, but it came out loud."
"What was so funny was the seamlessness with which she wove it into her sentence."
"It was very hard not to laugh so I sighed very loudly and said her name in a scolding tone. She realized her mistake and apologized and I sat at my desk with my hand covering my face for a full thirty seconds while my whole class laughed."
"I had to take a moment before going 'let’s move on' because I was just trying very hard not to crack up."
- Burn-babe
Excused From The Table
"My daughter was an early talker…so it was always funny to hear this tiny baby say all this big kid stuff."
"One night at dinner my wife was trying to get her to eat some corn and goes: 'See, mommy likes it.' “
"And my kid who was just barely 3 at the time looks at my wife and goes: 'Well then YOU eat it, mother!' ”
"I had to leave the room."
- SeaTie
Spit It Out
"When my son was 4, he was trying to explain something to me. He was so excited about it he kept restarting his sentence."
" 'It was the- it- the- it was a- it was...' etc for a good 3 minutes."
"I jokingly told him to spit it out. He, being 4 and not understanding that it's just a turn of phrase, actually spit on my floor. And then was able to tell me that he likes dinosaurs."
"I suppose... system reset achieved."
- Obligatory_smile
Calmly And Rationally
"My (at the time) three year old shouts 'FUCK!' in the back seat."
"I say, 'Henry! Don't say that word!' "
" 'But daddy, the f*ckin dammit toy fell down,' he calmly and rationally replied in a sing song 3 year old voice."
- johnwalkersbeard
"It's even funnier when they do it not knowing that it's a swear word."
"An acquaintance was peeling potatoes with her toddler in the room when the bag ripped and the potatoes fell out. The mom went 'Oh, f*ck', but then went around her day making food."
"Anyway, maybe two weeks later she and her daughter had the following conversation:"
"Mom: (rhetorically) 'I wonder what kind of food I should cook.' "
"Daughter: 'Oh f*ck!' "
"Mom: 'What did you just say?' "
"Daughter: 'Make oh f*ck! You bought oh f*ck yesterday!' "
"As you can guess, daughter thought that potatoes were called 'oh f*ck.' "
- Enakistehen
Don't Be A Drag
"Except for one band (The Imagination Movers) we never really listened to 'kiddie music' when our son was little."
"So from an early age, he was exposed to the same music that we listen to: mostly 80s/90s pop, Disney music (which my husband likes), classic rock and punk (which I like)."
"One day, when he was in like 2nd grade, his teacher pulled me aside when I went to go pick him up from school."
"Apparently, he'd gotten in trouble because he was having an argument with another boy on the playground at recess. Which that normally wouldn't have been a big deal, but how my son ended the argument was a bit of an issue."
"He told the kid, 'Don't be a drag, just be a queen.' "
"I wanted to bust out howling with laughter, but I didn't. All I could do was apologize to the teacher."
- KnockMeYourLobes
Britches
"Pull-ups (training diapers) have these velcro-like sides that can come apart to adjust the size and for diaper changes."
"My 3yo was putting one on for bedtime and it popped open. I jokingly told her 'Oh no! You burst your britches!' "
"Her response was running off to dad yelling 'I burst my b*tches! I burst my b*tches!' And then she re-enacted the scene and her new catch phrase every night for the rest of the week."
"I about peed myself laughing after I left her room that night."
- St3phiroth
Honey Butter
"My kiddo was 3 when we were out at a New Mexican restaurant. Traditionally we eat sopapillas with honey but this particular restaurant serves honey butter with theirs."
"I slather up a sopa, hand it to her and turn back to the conversation at the table."
"The next thing I hear is her saying, 'This honey butter is sooooo f*cking good!' "
"Her Dad and I glance at each other like, did she just say what I thought she said? I then ask her to repeat herself and sure enough:"
" 'This honey butter is sooo f*cking good!' "
"I had to turn around in my chair and laugh into my elbow before telling her that, while she was not wrong, she couldn't use the f word to describe her satisfaction with her food."
"I still laugh so hard I cry whenever I think about that story. We were at dinner with about 20 family members too!"
- BeeEyeAm
Kraft
"My brother and I had bunk beds when we were little. We used to sneak out, like army crawl all dramatically through the house, grab Kraft singles, and we’d hide the wrappers in the bottom of the top bunk."
"We denied it for weeks until my mom was on the bottom bunk for some reason and found the hole in the top mattress where we stored all the evidence. There were so many cheese wrappers in there. So many."
"No idea how she kept a straight face when she found them."
"I don't know how we ever stomached those single wrapped cheeses alone, and why we were so obsessed. Good times though!"
- shelllllo
Stealth/Slight Of Hand
"While at Six Flags my six year old daughter wanted some gas station quality sunglasses that they were selling for $40. I was absolutely not shelling out that money for such cheap glasses."
"I said no, but we could get a new pair when we stopped for gas."
"I talk to the clerk to return our two kid buggy rental, and we walk the mile from the return back to the car. My older son wants a couple shoulder rides but, my daughter just walks silently the whole way."
"Before she gets in the car seat, she puts on the sunglasses I refused to buy."
"Stealth/slight of hand +7."
"I was supposed to be mad about the theft, but ..."
- juicegooseboost
Boring
"Wife, out of frustration, sarcastically to our 3 year old:"
“ 'It must be f*cking great to stay up rather than sleep during nap time !' "
"3 year old responded: 'No! It's f*cking boring!!!' "
"I didn't wanna die, so I excused myself before cracking up."
- slipshuck
Arrest Record
"Once, as a substitute teacher, I was at an assembly with a group of 1st graders and the local Police Department was visiting."
"An officer was speaking and a kid yelled out 'Do you know my brother? He gets arrested A LOT!' "
"I pulled my sweater over my face to hide my laughter."
- SurferRosa85
Threats
"My son recently threatened to hurt my wife."
"He grabbed her face, squeezed as hard as he could, his little face turned red, and he yelled the worst thing he could think of:"
' 'I'm going to shine a flashlight right in your eye!' "
"I couldn't hold it in. I lost it. Then he threatened me with the same fate for my disrespect, of course."
"He thankfully did not get his flashlight."
- jules083
The Tree She Hides Behind
"We were playing hide and seek in the yard and I found a huge, corn filled pile of shit behind the tree she liked to hide behind."
"She blamed the dog for weeks until the next time we had corn for dinner."
"She finally caved to the truth and admitted the deed."
"She’s 5. And good at secrets."
- xzl830
"You Are Old"
"When my youngest son was 5, he used to walk over to old people and announce to them that they're old."
"He's autistic so he is very blunt and says things as he sees them."
"Just the look of shock on their faces at being called old, and I have to keep a straight face and apologize when I actually want to snort laugh."
- Snoo_46024
Tiny Road Rage
"Family holiday with young grandkids."
"Someone drove down the wrong way at an underground car park and blocked us. One of the adults said 'Oh man' but that was it. No swearing."
"Then a little voice in the back seat said...'f*cking hell!' "
"It was so in context!"
"We all thought it hilarious but had to be the adults and say that wasn't nice to say the F word!"
- MissGreenie
Mommies Diapers
"When my (now 23yo) daughter was about 2, we’d gone to the store to buy groceries and other assorted items including some feminine products."
"The trip took longer than I’d planned and when arrived back home, some expected friends were already there. I apologized for being late, explaining our errands had taken longer than expected."
"My daughter the furthered the explanation by saying, 'Yeah, we had to get mommy some diapers.' ”
- MsTLC_Georgia
Tiny people are just blessed with natural comedic timing.
So tell us, what's the funniest thing you've had to try not to laugh at?
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Oh the 90's. What a decade.
Who knew we were in the time of revolution?!
So much happened, yet so much stayed the same.
And not decades later, so much has changed.
Who doesn't love to look back upon a decade and discuss the things that were a common part of life and are now basically obsolete?
You never know in real time.
Redditor Apart-Scalewanted to reminisce about the glory days.
They asked:
"What was normal in the 1990s but rare or non existent now?"
For me... it's Madonna having a #1 song. It can still happen, but highly unlikely.
Music
"A disc man plugged into a cassette tape with a wire to play music in your car."
freehi_5
Call Me
"Hotlines for the weather report, current time, and movie show times."
redacted_4_security
"The time and temperature phone number for my small hometown still exists to this day. Same Pre recorded voice and everything. It still advertises caller-id as an add on feature for land lines. Know who’s calling you. It’s easy and convenient with caller id. The time is x. Temperature y."
Bushelsoflaughs
Let's Chat
"Talking to your friends mom to see if they were home."
Espeon2022
"I've always thought that having to go through the parents to talk to your friends made things more controlled and respectful. Now kids can just blast each other with every thought that pops in their heads 24/7, that must make things more toxic."
RupFox
Fly Away
"When picking someone up from the airport, you could wait for them at their gate."
Facelesspirit
"When I have flights going through cities with people I know I will intentionally schedule a couple hour layover so I can go hand lunch with them and then just go through security again and board the next flight."
ItsEntsy
I'm Out
"Being unreachable."
BTW_The_Names_Marcus
"I still do this to this day. I'll go on vacation for a week and just turn the phone off, or be far enough out in the boonies that there is no cell signal whatsoever."
libra00
I wish I could put my phone down. Who knew we'd never be without them?
Let's Fandango
"Calling the movie theater or looking in the paper for movie times."
yepitsjen22
Music Library
"Keeping a binder full of CDs in your car."
PMMeUrHopesNDreams
"I once left the door on my car unlocked and came back to find my car stereo gone but not my full 100 disc binder. The stereo had completely died 2 weeks prior and I just hadn't gotten around to swapping it out yet. I just laughed."
v1ct0r326
"My car CDs were stolen in 1998. I’m still pissed."
Whatwhyohhh
Multitasking
"Pressing play and record at the same time."
MoistnSquishy
"I don't know why but this one made me feel the saddest. I guess it just snapped me back to a moment when I was bored and had no where I had to be, no where I planned to go. My life's todo list completely empty. Just me and the weird 90's dust that seemed to float around in front of sunny windows."
bannablecommentary
"Putting tape over the security tab/square so you could record over any tape you had in your collection."
candiebelle
Dial Up
"Telephone booths."
Zen_Anarch
"I had to check for the phone booth that I used the most as a teenager (not in NYC, in the beach town where I spent my summers) and it was still there in the most recent Street View! I'll have to see if it's there now when I go by tomorrow. This was where I checked in with my parents and friends circa 1990 to see what was going on. The arcade was just down the street."
superluke
And the White?
"Yellow Pages."
zekesaltspider
"I got a phone book in my mailbox the other day. First one in years. It was about the size of a Goosebumps book."
dragon_book_hoarder
Well those were the days. Weren't they?
Texas is HUGE!
Literally, it's massive. That might be why the tagline is about everything being big. Oh the metaphors of life.
Next to size is heat. Lord is it hot there.
Those are just a few of the regular Texas deets that often come to mind.
What else do others think of?
Redditor Common-Transition973 wanted to compare notes on everyone's thoughts about the Lonestar state.
They asked:
"Non Texans , what are your thoughts when you hear 'Texas?'"
I've been to Texas once. Austin. It was cute.
Shaped
"Literally just the shape of the state itself as seen from a map or something."
BirbMaster1998
All Love Baby
"I’ve been through Texas a few times and the thing that stood out to me was how much people in Texas love talking about how much they love Texas. I had a beer at the Dallas airport when I was waiting for a friends plane and it was a Budweiser bottle but instead of Budweiser the label said Texas on it."
"Diners would serve Texas shaped pancakes. Every gas station had a section for Texas swag- everything from tee shirts to shot glasses to hats to magnets and other Knick knacks."
"I’ve always found New Yorkers to be obnoxious with how much they talk about how much better they are than everyone else, but Texas is actually on another level. So, I guess when I think of Texas, I think of a bunch of people yelling 'I f**kin' love Texas'."
duh_metrius
BBQ
"Barbecue, don’t get me wrong we’ve got it here in the UK but it’s nothing like what I’ve seen from across the pond. Burnt ends, beef ribs, smoked brisket. I’ve only ever seen it on YouTube and I envy those of you who have tasted it."
LWA7299
"Honestly when I went to Texas and tried the bbq, at both that big well known place and a 'mom and pop' place that my airbnb hosts said was the best in the city. It was... Good. Like it was tasty and all, but just they way people talk about it like its some kind of religious experience or that it's just so different and unlike bbq in other countries, but it wasn't. Its still just meat + dry rub + sauce and I've had comparable bbq in London."
GDPR_Violation
No Skittles
"My Texas is essentially one of those m&m characters. I picture him with those big oval eyes and white limbs. The color of this Texas-shaped m&m is 'American flag.' He’s got a cowboy hat, a piece of wheat sticking out of his mouth, and a perfectly groomed mustache. He’s just walking around in his cowboy boots with his Ak-47 in tow. He vehemently hates the skittles."
comradekitty__
Complete Crazy
"In my native Norwegian the term 'complete Texas' means chaos or out of control."
Algorithmix9
Texas means so much in so many ways.
Perfection
"Cadillacs with giant horns on the front driven by old men in white suits with big white cowboy hats and superbly trimmed mustaches."
Spare-Cap-3152
'gone Texas'
"In my company (in a country on the opposite side of the planet from Texas), 'gone Texas' is a term used to describe a software program that has frozen up to the point where even Task Manager can't abort it. Otherwise we don't think about it very much, except perhaps with mild horror."
NinaCulotta
Taglines
"Heavyset white people with guns and large cowboy hats yelling 'DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS!'"
OhEeAyTaleSpin88
"My favorite part of 'Don’t mess with Texas’ is that comes across as this slogan about how tough and bada** Texans are, but in reality it was an effective anti-littering campaign from the department of transportation."
Extremists
"Militant Evangelicals."
skootch_ginalola
"Man, as a Muslim in a secular country, is always a ride seeing posts about republicans go on about something something shariah law, something something freedom, something Obama... And then two posts later, there's a r/nottheonion post about Texas basically being white Taliban."
Deadpotatoz
Well there is still a lot of good in Texas. You just have to dig deep.
Insects play a vital role in Earth's ecosystem.
Without insects, some plants would die and some animals would starve creating a domino effect of global famine.
That being said, June Bugs can crawl back into the pits of Hell from whence they came.
I know I'm not alone in that opinion.
Redditor aconnor105 asked:
"What insect can go straight to Hell?"
Horseflies
"Horseflies. One of those f'kers chased my car for an hour and a half."
- an_ineffable_plan
"Ah yes, the sadistic combination of a mosquito's diet and gluttony and a fly's energy and speed."
- MadQrow
"Their mouthparts are literally two knives with the blades facing outwards, when a horsefly (or deer fly, or moose fly) bites you, they’re literally ripping a hole in your skin and lapping up the blood."
- MacTechG4
"They are such a**holes. A thrown shoe when they land is surprisingly effective at taking them out."
- AcceptablyPotato
"Deploy La Chancla!"
- classicalySarcastic
Bed Bugs
"Bed bugs. If you're anything like me just the mention of them makes your skin crawl."
- My_Space_page
"The bites are bad but the paranoia is worse. Once you get them you will never trust a bed ever again."
"Every unexplained itch will make you think 'F'k, are they back?'."
- pk-starstorm
Mosquitoes
"Mosquitoes. Every single one."
- Fish_Panda
"Only few select, totally expendable species of mosquitoes feed on humans. We need to just completely exterminate those f**kers!"
- vortex1001
"Kill em all, let their mosquito god sort em out."
- Digital_Utopia
June Bugs
Vindicated! I'm not the only one who hates these things.
"June Bugs. I hate them so much. They fly right at you and are so loud! And I get embarrassed for screaming my a** off."
- Skeebou and Cupacakezzz
"1000% this. They make sitting outside in the summer in Texas after 8:00pm (when it’s actually cool enough to sit outside) completely unbearable."
- Rendogala
\u201cDamn June bugs love my pool don\u2019t they \ud83d\ude11\u201d— Stealth wolfsky\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Stealth wolfsky\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1658326332
Cockroaches
"Cockroaches. I want to invent a laser to kill just these f'kers only. They all need to burn to ash."
- AlphaShard
"In South China we had drain cockroaches that would panic when they got caught in flash torrential rain. They make a beeline for the nearest high ground, which includes you."
"I didn't really believe it at first."
"'Hah, that cockroach looks like he's sprinting towards me. Look, he even changed direction with me. Whoa, hold on a minute mate'."
"He got to my upper chest before I managed to throw him off."
"About 2,000 of them panicked after a minor earthquake, flooding out of the drains and into the nearby shops. Yelps and colourful language followed as shop staff pelted them into the air and onto bikes/cars/pedestrians with brooms."
- mrminutehand
Earwigs
"Earwigs. Creepy a** bugs with those big a** pincers on their butt."
"And they always come out at night, get in water glasses, mailboxes...nasty things."
- Xonvoluted
\u201cThe hidden, origami-like wings of the common earwig unfold to ten times their folded size, transforming the mostly ground-dwelling insect into a super-efficient flyer [read more: https://t.co/9vtGk5Hr52] [how they served as models: https://t.co/58nfe8WhYQ]\u201d— Massimo (@Massimo) 1658138400
Fleas
"Fleas. Literally any parasitic insect."
- Recent_View6254
"This is the answer, literally just any parasite. Some actually DO have a reason to exist, but others seem like they were created for the PURPOSE of spreading diseases and pain."
- StreetIndependence62
Borers
"The Emerald Ash Borer. Has killed three massive trees on my property, and is working its way to killing every ash tree in my part of the country."
- CoffeeAndBrass
...but there seem to be a lot more we mostly hate.
Did your insect nemesis make the list?
For the life of me, I can't understand how anyone could still watch The Walking Dead. I just checked and the damn thing has had 11 seasons. 11 seasons!
Can you imagine?
People enjoy watching characters follow a set of train tracks for an entire season I guess. (For context, I made it to the beginning of the seventh season before I threw in the towel, and it was really testing my patience well before then.)
But there's so much more out there that's equally overrated. Television is the least of our problems.
People shared their thoughts with us after Redditor PieinHorse asked the online community,
"What is very overrated?"
"The perceived security..."
"The perceived security of most jobs."
chickenkottu
Replace jobs with locks or doors or windows and it's still true.
"Influencers."
"Influencers. I'm not sure what's more ridiculous, the fact someone believes they are an "influencer" or those who actually follow them and are influenced by said influencer."
aussie_shane
I scarcely think about them. Out of sight, out of mind.
"After owning..."
"Designer brands and bags. After owning an item from each brand, it’s really the most big waste of money people can put their money on."
ian6677
You do get what you pay for up to a certain point.
"The extra leg room..."
"First Class Airline tickets!"
"We lucked up on our last flight that we had no choice but to get first class and our company paid for it, but I can 100% say that it was NOT worth the extra $700."
"The extra leg room was nice, as I'm 6'7", but the "free cocktails" and additional food? Nah homie, I'm good."
ecallowsamoht
Was this domestic? For those short flights First Class is pretty much not worth it, but for international long haul? A lie-down bed for a 13 hour flight is worth the 2x or more price, plus the other perks.
"I prefer..."
"Casual sex. I prefer competitive sex."
[deleted]
Evolutionarily speaking, life is about competitive sex...
"Being famous..."
"Being famous must suck big time. Imagine not being able to go shopping, taking a chill walk in the park, go to the beach, supermartket, etc... without people engaging with you."
Pcostix
Say goodbye to any privacy whatsoever. No thank you.
"Spent my prime years..."
"Alcohol. Spent my prime years drinking at college and all that, still say it’s the most overrated thing in history. So many better drugs that could have prevented long and short term health issues, made things more peaceful, more efficient, more successful, and so on. The fact that it’s globally advertised every millisecond proves it’s overrated."
DFHartzell
There's nothing wrong with deciding to stop drinking (or never drinking at all) and people should not be shamed for it.
"Why?"
"Huge weddings. Why? Spend the money on something important or on a trip."
Ginger_Chick
Some people want their best day ever to be a big party with all the people they care about. But there is a crazy level of stress involved in planning a party that size.
"Being an adult."
"Being an adult. What BS is this, and why the hell did we want to be adults when we were kids?"
imunclebubba
Nah, being an adult is awesome. I wouldn't change it for the world. Freedom!
"Half of the time."
"Hot weather. Half of the time it is just horrible and you’re sweating in your clothes and the other half you’re at the beach burning alive."
patrickgall
Sorry, I'd rather it be hot than be freezing, but I'm one of those people who can never get warm.
Hey, it could be worse. We could be talking about how much Game of Thrones disappointed us (again) and how it is impossible to watch it now, a total slog, knowing where it ends up. Disappointing and overrated indeed.
Have some suggestions of your own? Tell us more in the comments below!