Feature of the Month: Humor and Your Child

When was the last time you and your child shared a laugh? One of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave my sisters and me was the gift of laughter. On several occasions I can honestly remember laughing so hard that my stomach hurt for days! The world we live in today seems to celebrate less as well as laugh. How can humor help you with your children and other family members? Laughter can be used as a vehicle in difficult times as well as make good times more meaningful.

?How can you use humor with your child, so it is taken as funny, not sarcastic or hurtful? Here are some pointers or rather a crash course in humor with children:

  1. Throughout the course of a day, skillfully lighten things up, sensitively place humor where it is not hurtful.
  2. When your kids become critical of you or others, chuckle along with them, remind them of how they might feel if they were on the other end of the laugh.
  3. Notice what makes your child laugh. If it is positive, share the laugh with them. Start a discussion of why that happening is funny.
  4. Recognize and promote television shows, books, poems and jokes that support positive humor. Ask your children to do the same, share humor.
  5. Remind family members that laughter is almost always a great relief for stress and emotionally challenging situations within the family.

The Perfect Gift

Start humor with a smile. Read the gift below:

A smile costs nothing
But it creates so much.
It enriches those who receive it
Without impoverishing those who give it.
It happens in a flash and the
Memory of it sometimes last forever.
A smile creates happiness in the home,
Fosters goodwill in a business
And is the countersign of friends.
It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged,
Sunshine to the soul
And nature's best antidote for trouble.
It cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen
For it is something that is of no earthly value
Until it is given away.
And, if it ever happens that some people
Should be too tired to give you a smile,
Why not leave one of yours?
For nobody needs a smile
As much as those who have none left to give.

(found on the bathroom wall at a WalMart Store) Author unknown.

Another 5 quick tips for humor:

  1. Keep funny, connect and spend time with funny friends and family.
  2. Buy silly things that remind you of laughter.
  3. Watch television shows, or rent videos that are comedies.
  4. Make other people happy.
  5. SMILE

Some sites to check out more about humor and your child:

  • - search.family.go.com/family/query.html? adtype=activities&col=family&qt=humor

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    Do you have a strategy that works really well in your home? Share your successful techniques with others by selecting Parent Talk.

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