The other day, my youngest son was quite angry with me for taking away his computer privileges. It was a consequence for him not doing his homework the day before. It’s the old “work before play” idea. If you don’t get your work done, you don’t get to play.

He did not agree with this theory at all, and tried everything he could think of to get out from under the punishment.

Unfortunately, all I could do was laugh.

It’s a problem that I’ve been fighting for quite some time. For some inexplicable reason, when kids yell at me, I laugh. I don’t know why, but the sight of an irate 9-year old berating me always strikes me as being incredibly funny.

I understand that laughing is completely inappropriate. I know that being laughed at when you’re angry just makes you angrier. I just can’t help myself.

What’s worse is that my laughing always causes the brother of the angry child (whoever it is) to start laughing. Even my wife starts to smile a bit. Soon, the angry child finds himself yelling at a family of people, all trying to hide their smiles. The more the yelling happens, though, the funnier it seems, and the more the family laughs.

It’s got to be quite the horrible experience, and it’s one I should put an end to.

Honestly, though, I doubt it’s going to get any better. I mean, even as I write this, I can’t stop chuckling.

It’s a problem.