The dinos are really good at tin-foil, Daddy
November 13, 2013 12:02 PM   Subscribe

Welcome to Dinovember. "Every year, my wife and I devote the month of November to convincing our children their plastic dinosaur figures come to life while they sleep." By Refe Tuma via Medium.
posted by sweetkid (39 comments total) 45 users marked this as a favorite
 
Deserves a Calvin's Dad award for parenting excellence.
posted by shothotbot at 12:15 PM on November 13, 2013 [11 favorites]


Oh, I really like that. I wish I had done it myself!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:15 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


My god their diet is absolutely terrible. No wonder they died out.

Wait.

Making T-Rex play Operations? Oh, that's just cruel.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:16 PM on November 13, 2013 [6 favorites]


This is great! I actually own that T. rex toy that's being interviewed in the first shot. It was one of my earliest toys and it's sitting on my book case as we speak.

As far as I know. Maybe it's up to something.

Crap.
posted by brundlefly at 12:17 PM on November 13, 2013 [5 favorites]


Oh, delightful.
posted by rmd1023 at 12:19 PM on November 13, 2013


Oh, they invite people to join in on Facebook.
posted by sweetkid at 12:22 PM on November 13, 2013


Fantastic. I am thinking of doing this to my 63 year old husband.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:30 PM on November 13, 2013 [26 favorites]


This could go very wrong if your kids have velociraptors...
posted by BlueHorse at 12:40 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


"We will rule over all this land and we will call it... This Land."
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 12:46 PM on November 13, 2013 [12 favorites]


That's great! Reminds me of when I was a kid and my dad used to plant evidence of nocturnal supernatural visitations (Santa, Easter Bunny). He'd trample stuff, run sleds through snow if possible, paint huge rabbit footprints on the kitchen floor. Fun stuff, kids love it!
posted by Mister_A at 12:46 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Good job it finishes before Dec else I would have terrible visions of the dinos being caught with just remaining scraps of red, fur-trimmed cloth, on the 26th
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:47 PM on November 13, 2013 [5 favorites]


In a time when the answers to all the world’s questions are a web-search away, we want our kids to experience a little mystery.

Pssst! I hate to tell you this, but the web can totally hear you!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:47 PM on November 13, 2013


how long before this backfires, with the kids destroying their own home with a meteor?
posted by mulligan at 12:48 PM on November 13, 2013 [7 favorites]


Otherwise... Cool!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:48 PM on November 13, 2013


My dad once convinced me that my cat had taken to writing diary entries on his typewriter.
posted by brundlefly at 12:49 PM on November 13, 2013 [9 favorites]


What is 'typewriter,' brundlefly?
posted by Mister_A at 12:51 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


It's like Elf on the Shelf, except, you know, if Elf on the Shelf were cool and awesome and had dinosaurs instead of being kind of awful.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:51 PM on November 13, 2013 [12 favorites]


Oh, they invite people to join in on Facebook.

Project for tonight!
posted by shothotbot at 12:53 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


brundlefly: This is great! I actually own that T. rex toy that's being interviewed in the first shot. It was one of my earliest toys and it's sitting on my book case as we speak.

You need to send them some photos of your T. rex in front of your local landmarks so they can set up a "Coming Back from Vacation" scene.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:00 PM on November 13, 2013 [6 favorites]


According to my dinosaur figure friends, Elf on a Shelf is how short order cooks call out a grilled elf sandwich. They're also very, very fond of Shepherd's Pie. With free range sheperds, of course.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:01 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


Mister_A: Reminds me of when I was a kid and my dad used to plant evidence of nocturnal supernatural visitations (Santa, Easter Bunny). He'd trample stuff, run sleds through snow if possible, paint huge rabbit footprints on the kitchen floor. Fun stuff, kids love it!

Protip: if you're going with the "Santa Comes Down The Chimney, Here Are His Boot Prints In Ashes" ruse, it's best to use both the left and right boot. It might seem like you could save time by simply using a single boot, but kids are wise to this sort of thing, and start to ask questions.

A friend, when she was young but getting older, started to analyze the handwriting on Santa's letters and compare it to her parents' handwriting, so her mother asked family friends to write the letters.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:11 PM on November 13, 2013 [3 favorites]


My parents signed Santa's name using their non dominant hand, and said his handwriting was so shaky because he was so rushed, which I bought for a while. I had had my suspicions, but when I found Santa's special wrapping paper behind the couch I knew the Santa thing was over.
posted by sweetkid at 1:15 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Another pro-tip, if you've used the Santa will bypass the house if you are awake bit to get them to bed on Christmas Eve be careful about setting up a situation where they catch a glimpse of Santa in the house. It might not work out like you expect.
posted by COD at 1:28 PM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


I love this for a million reasons, but especially because there's nothing precious about it. The dinos are destructive, they're messy, and sometimes they break things, and I love that they trust their kids around them.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:38 PM on November 13, 2013 [4 favorites]


Waiting for the night when they visit the barbershop to get rid of (or grow sudden) facial hair for DiMovember.
posted by Seboshin at 1:54 PM on November 13, 2013


When I was six or so, there were enormous oaks at the road in front of our house, and one of them had what looked like a little door-shaped hole at its roots. One day I found an odd note there. I don't remember what it said; it was probably litter from someone on the sidewalk or in the road. But it said something friendly that made me believe it was supposed to be there, and I had to write back and say hello. I left a note of my own in the crook of the roots where I found it.

The next day, on the back of the note, someone had written: I AM THE SPIRIT WHO LIVES IN THE TREE. YOU ARE A FRIEND?

It was thrilling. My dad was an instant suspect, of course, because he loves playing tricks. Still, it wasn't his style, and he denied it. I didn't want to believe it was him, so I wrote back right away, but I don't believe the spirit ever did. Personally, I suspect one of several other guys, but whoever it was made me happy, even now.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:20 PM on November 13, 2013 [26 favorites]


This is great! I actually own that T. rex toy that's being interviewed in the first shot.

Me too! Where is that sucker...

oh shit my ca-
posted by Dr. Zachary Smith at 2:21 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


#nightmarefuel
posted by gottabefunky at 3:06 PM on November 13, 2013


I showed this to my boss and she started telling me about how she acted out various characters with her daughter's teddy bears when she was five. Perhaps the characters she picked were a bit...inappropriate.... there was a slutty one, a crybaby, a runaway, a bad girl, a hypochondriac who kept falling apart and needed to be sewn together....at Halloween there was the witch who stalked her husband and flew around on a broom....they all had different voices...

YOU ARE THE COOL MOM!
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:48 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


When I was a little kid, my grandmother used to wear L'eggs pantyhose - they used to come in these awesome big plastic eggs, and she would save every single one for us grandkids, for crafts or whatever. There were bags of them in the basement.

Those eggs were almost always white plastic, but on one visit I was given a rare giant purple plastic egg. I fooled around with it for a while and then set it aside.

When I picked it up again later, there was something inside. A roll of Smarties! The egg was right where I'd left it, and nobody was around, so I shrugged and ate the Smarties.

A little while later, I picked the egg up again... Another roll of Smarties! At that point I probably asked a grownup if they had put them there, but all knowledge was convincingly disavowed.

This went on all day long; I'd set the egg down and go do something else, and every time I came back there would be another roll of Smarties in it.

I'm pretty sure I was old enough at the time to know what the real deal was with Santa*, the Easter Bunny et al, but man, that purple plastic egg... by the end of that day at my grandparents' house I was seriously wondering if it was some kind of magic. Nobody in my family had acted furtive or like they had a secret joke; it was like any other visit, except for that purple plastic egg.

I have never forgotten that sense of delighted wonder in the face of everything I knew about real life. When I got older there were several times that I almost asked my grandparents about that egg, but I never did. They are both gone now, but strangely enough I've never really regretted not asking... because what do I really need to know? I like letting the little kid corner of my brain go on believing it was magic.

*My dad never tried to disguise his handwriting on the 'From Santa' presents, which I think is a pretty good way to let a kid gradually figure it out on their own without it being a huge crushing moment of disillusionment.
posted by usonian at 4:21 PM on November 13, 2013 [30 favorites]


YOUR DAD IS SANTA?!!!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:30 PM on November 13, 2013 [14 favorites]


I love these photos, but I still don't get why parents feel the need to try and pull one over on their kids just to have fun. Games of pretend still work even when everyone knows its just pretend.
posted by ErWenn at 7:25 PM on November 13, 2013



*My dad never tried to disguise his handwriting on the 'From Santa' presents, which I think is a pretty good way to let a kid gradually figure it out on their own without it being a huge crushing moment of disillusionment.


I figured it out on my own based on the whole "implausible that there's a nice jolly white guy who flies all over the world in ONE NIGHT and no way would my parents let A STRANGER come down our chimney even if he had presents and WOULDN'T I HEAR THE HOOVES ON THE ROOF" and and and but I kept it to myself because my parents tried so hard and also I had a little brother. But when I found Santa's special wrapping paper and realized his shaky handwriting was my father's left hand, not Santa being "busy," well, I had to confront the truth.
posted by sweetkid at 7:26 PM on November 13, 2013



I love these photos, but I still don't get why parents feel the need to try and pull one over on their kids just to have fun. Games of pretend still work even when everyone knows its just pretend.

I'm pretty sure the kids know. It sounds like they're playing along with the joke, from the captions. "Can we still eat that cereal?"
posted by sweetkid at 7:28 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


They set up a zipline and made a gif.

I mean. That's awesome.
posted by rewil at 9:56 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


I'mma bit shocked that mom broke her favourite vase! That's commitment.

It's great how much fun they're having, though.
posted by Omnomnom at 7:59 AM on November 14, 2013


I'mma bit shocked that mom broke her favourite vase! That's commitment.

Please RTFA! The plastic dinosaur figures broke the vase. Sheesh, people. Try to pay attention.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:53 AM on November 14, 2013 [8 favorites]


ErWenn: "I love these photos, but I still don't get why parents feel the need to try and pull one over on their kids just to have fun. Games of pretend still work even when everyone knows its just pretend."

Even when kids are young enough to BELIEVE, they're still smart enough to know better. They choose which path to take, but they play along, because make-believe is more fun than being right (up until a certain age).
posted by IAmBroom at 12:15 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


usonian: "My dad never tried to disguise his handwriting on the 'From Santa' presents, which I think is a pretty good way to let a kid gradually figure it out on their own without it being a huge crushing moment of disillusionment."

We didn't so much do presents from Santa, but we did get presents from the cats… all of whom had handwriting very similar to Mom's. Only legible, so it couldn't be her, right?

I still use the nail clippers from the manicure kit that Pinky tucked into my stocking 30-ish years ago. Excellent choice, cat — you had good taste.
posted by Lexica at 11:38 AM on November 18, 2013 [2 favorites]


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