The Top 7 Most Ridiculous Moments of 2024

It’s the time of year for Top X lists. And, lest the incredibly loyal and better-than-average looking readers of this column should feel left out, I too have compiled a list. Here’s a look back at the year and the top seven most ridiculous moments in the world of Daddy Days.

7 – The solar eclipse. Getting to see the eclipse in April as a family was great. The ridiculous part was when, at the peak of totality, several of the boys ran inside the house and then back out excitedly saying, “Dad you have to come see how dark it is inside!” Yes, inside.  

6 – The 4-year-old swallowing a penny. Perhaps this is just fresh on my mind because I wrote about it a few weeks ago. The scenario may be more common than I thought, but that whole situation was ridiculous. I don’t recommend.

5 – Getting a guinea pig. This one technically started at the end of 2023 when we gave the 7-year-old a guinea pig for Christmas. I plead temporary insanity as my only defense. The last thing our house of semi-domesticated boys needed was a semi-domesticated rodent. The guinea pig was adopted from a quiet home with no kids and was along in years so I’m pretty sure he saw the ridiculousness of the situation before anyone.

4 – The 4-year-old’s food commentary. During a memorable meal from September of this year, the 4-year-old proved he has a special affinity for the ridiculous when it comes to talking about food. I was grilling and he walked up and asked, “Dad, are you cooking lobster feet?”  When I laughed and said no I was grilling burgers he looked at me dubiously and smiled while saying, Ohhhkayyy,,,” Later, when we were eating, he loudly announced, “this tastes like scorpions!” and started scraping food off his tongue with his fingers. Was he trying out a new comedy bit? Did the peppery seasoning burn his mouth? Does he actually know what scorpions taste like? I’m not 100% certain I know the answer to any of these.

3 – When we went to a high school football game. The best way to sum up this experience is: I paid money so several boys and I could be fumigated by high schooler’s excessive body spray and the boys could watch crickets divebomb fans in the stands.

2 – A confession from the 11-year-old. It seems like every year for the last five or so years the 11-year-old will casually mention something he misunderstood when he was younger. And his misunderstandings are always hilarious. This year he told me when he was “a kid” he thought bluebonnets were called “poop-on-its”. I asked how he thought this and he said when Mom would have them take a picture by the bluebonnets in the spring he thought she was saying, “don’t step on the poop-on-its” and he figured that was because they would get their clothes dirty if they stepped on these…very strange flowers.

1 – The clothes dryer breaking down three times. How is this on this list, let alone at the top? Because the cause of the breakdown, all three times, was the head of a Lego brick minifigure getting caught in the groove of the drum. You wouldn’t believe the noise that small piece makes when it gets caught in there, although my wife can probably describe it to you in detail. All it takes is a boy leaving a Lego man (or six) in his jeans pockets when they go into the laundry. But hey, I can now disassemble the front of the dryer in less than 15 minutes.

Here’s hoping this happens less frequently in 2025.