Some jokes aren't funny: Mother puts crying baby on eBay

My son, Sean, is 14 years old. Growing taller by the minute, he towers over me now, but for years he was "the baby" of the family. Sean was the youngest of four, that lasted for a whole decade — until Katie was born. Growing up in the shadow of older siblings, he was often the butt of good-hearted practical jokes.

There was the Easter egg hunt when I asked my oldest son, Jeff (who as a teenager was too old to participate) if he would hide the colorful plastic eggs around the back yard for the younger ones. He enjoyed the task almost too much, so it seemed to reason he was up to something!

Afterwards, it turned out that he removed the goodies from one of the eggs and replaced the candy with a piece of dried dog poop. He then encouraged Sean in his hunting strategy towards the prized egg. I can still remember the perplexed expression on Sean's face when he opened that egg. Even now, recalling that moment, I chuckle aloud. Good thing Sean didn't take it for a chunk of chocolate!

Then, there was the time when our big furry dog was retrieved from the groomers just prior to Sean being picked up from school. Sean was in first grade then. The dog looked entirely different — trimmed neatly with just puffs of fur remaining on his head and paws and so much smaller! I thought it might be funny to tell Sean it was a brand new dog in the car with us.

Surprisingly, Sean totally believed it, and he spent about 10 minutes of the ride looking him over, petting him, and coming up with suggestions on what to name him! I let it go just long enough before I suggested the name of our old dog -- at which time, Sean figured it out!

Childhood innocence can be fun to revisit. Recalling experiences of growing up together builds shared memories and serves to reinforce family ties.

My five kids today. Sean is the one wearing the glasses.

An unusual eBay story came out in the news over the weekend which demonstrates a joke gone too far, and their family experience probably won't evoke the same warmth in the retelling.

It did stir up a related memory for me...

Again, Sean was about 7 years old. In a conversation about new babies, his big brother tried to convince him that we bought him on eBay. I stopped that talk immediately, reassuring Sean he was always ours.

Although I cut the topic of conversation short way back then, the initial suggestion was heard by all. Even now, when the kids get together, it's occasionally brought up, and everyone laughs. These things are amusing to this day because it's understood that it was done in good fun.

But obviously, some jokes can go too far... And this one in the news has definitely crossed that line.

A 23-year-old mother in Germany actually put her 7-month-old son on eBay!

The listing stated that she was offering the baby for sale because he cried too much. Local pick up only. The listing was online for approximately two hours before it was removed.

The woman told the German newspaper The Bild that the whole thing was a joke.

She said, "It was only a joke. I just wanted to see if someone would make an offer. They’ve taken my son to hospital and I’ve got to take psychiatric tests next week."

The child has been taken into state care and the mother will have to undergo tests to determine if she is fit to continue parenting her son.

The auction received no bids at the starting price of 1 euro (US $1.57).

I'm guessing she's thinking it's not too funny now.