This is funny or not, depending on how you look at it.
One day, when kiddo was 3-ish, I went to pick him up from pre-school. The teacher saw me approaching, came out, closed the door behind her, and put her arm around my waist to take me for a walk. I’m thinking, “Uh oh, what the heck did he do?” Instead, she asked softly, “Did you lose a child?” (Uh, no.) “Because, a few times, your son has referred to his “other brother,” and I thought he was an only child.” I immediately knew where this was coming from and had to cover with a sheepish reply, “Kids say the darnedest things, don’t they?”
The funny part is that anytime our son attempted anything potentially dangerous (touching the stove, running with scissors, etc.), I’d always say, “STOP THAT! You know what happened to your other brother…” Eventually, he asked how many other brothers he had, and I said, “About ten. You’ve lasted the longest, but you’re on thin ice if you keep doing .” Lest you gasp, you have to know our family. My mother always told us to “Stop crying or I’ll nail your other foot to the floor!” We just have our own sense of humor.
Anyway, the not-so-funny part is that his teacher, a pastor’s wife, and her husband HAD lost a child, and she was reaching out to me with compassion. I was mortified and never made that reference again.