April Fool’s Day. It falls on the same day every year, and every year, social media is filled with all of the adorable pranks people play on one another. And while Pinterest may attempt to convince you that today is a special day with a multitude of tasks people can engage in to innocently (or less than innocently) prank their children/spouses/strangers on the internet, there is something those without children do not understand:

Every day is April Fool’s Day at our houses.

Like those days when you convince yourself that by powering through naptime, your kiddo will have an earlier bedtime­. But April Fool’s! You forgot that “power through naptime” is actually the universal code for inviting goblins to possess the bodies of your sweet children, and goblins never sleep.

Oh, you got all of the laundry carefully sorted and put away? April Fool’s! Your two-year-old wrecked that nonsense immediately so he could find his froggie pants. (Bonus April Fool’s: he was already wearing them.)

You packed a spare set of clothing for all of your diapered and not-quite-potty trained children, but not for the very-well-potty-trained five year old? April Fool’s! That kid is going to fall into that puddle of whatever the second you get out of the car at your destination.

Congratulations. You remembered you also have a fur-baby and managed to give her a bath, something you’ve neglected to do in far too long because you barely have time to bathe yourself. But April Fool’s! She darted out the door, still damp, and rolled in all of the things in your yard.

You got out of the door just in time to not be late, for the first time in a long time, and you’re so stinking proud of yourself. But April Fool’s! That car seat is like a Pavlov bell for the colon, and you’re going back inside to wipe those ripe feces off of your precious babe.

Of course, these rarely make the picture perfect status update, so we endure quietly, faintly noticing the outsider’s recognition of this day, a day that is “celebrated” by parents every other day of the year.

But perhaps the greatest prank of all, the sneakiest of April Fool’s, is when this stage has passed, our adult children are out in the world, and we see the new parents juggling their tiny children in the grocery store aisle. In our hearts, and likely out of our mouths, we will reflect, “It goes by so fast. Cherish it.”

Happy April Fool’s Day, my fellow Foolish Warriors.

Keighty Brigman is terrible at crafting, throwing birthday parties, and making sure there isn’t food on her face. Allegedly, her four children manage to love her anyway.

Key words: April Fools, pranks, parenting, enduring, patience, support