We’re Ashamed To Say We Cackled; What Would Our Mothers Think?!

CONTENT WARNING: Crass Humor

I was one of several volunteers running an event for a group of kids from a very deprived area. We’d taken them camping for three weeks in a different country. This was all a Big Deal. Most of them had never been abroad before; heck, most of them had never been away from home before.

The little sods were constantly ragging on each other. “Your Mum” jokes were having a bit of a moment in school playgrounds at the time, and it was their favourite way to wind each other up. We had several kids with us whose mothers had died or left — mostly left. They were getting really upset because the others were just hammering them with “Your Mum” jokes.

So, we banned the jokes.

One night, with the kids in bed and (supposedly) asleep in their tents, a couple of the volunteers did a well-being and security sweep round the campsite… and returned to the central building (where the other adults were preparing the next day’s activities and clearing up) with two little ones in tow.

It seems that, instead of sleeping the sleep of the just, they’d been trading “Your Mum” jokes — and they seemed stunned to discover that tent walls are not soundproof. Who knew?

Anyway, the two volunteers basically called all our attention to the matter and told the kids to repeat what they’d been saying to each other. The idea was we’d all consider their transgression, set a firm face against it, and agree on a “punishment”.

I cannot remember what the first “joke” was; I know it was pretty weak. The second one had pretty much all of us suddenly suffering “coughing” fits.

“Your mum’s t*ts are so square, the milk comes out in cartons.”