Parenting with a Sense of Humor

As a school counselor I often encourage parents to see some of the humor in their parenting challenges.  After spending three years striving to help one mom pick her battles with her middle school son and learn to laugh at some of his ridicously goofy antics, I could see that she finally arrived.  One day, while watching this mom look  though the school’s lost and found, I approched her and asked if she found what she was looking for.  She stated, “My son misplaced his frontal lobe at the beginning of the school year and I was hoping someone put it in lost and found.”

Even though parenting is a serious job, there are times when we need to lightenen up and laugh at (and with) our children. According to Greg Steckler and Gerald Deskin:

“Humor reminds us to have a perspective about life that keeps things properly prioritized. It allows us to see the forest in the midst of dealing with each tree.  When you ask parents who have had three or more children what it means to be good parents, you most likely will hear answers that focus on concepts like love, patience, help and support. Absent from their vocabulary will be concepts like doing it right, being the best, or having a neat and orderly house. After a number of years and/or a number of kids, parents’ expectations are beaten into submission from intellectual ideas into emotional support, appreciation and gratitude. Like a stone made round and smooth by turbulent waters, humor reveals wisdom. In short, it points to higher values.”

 Laughter Is A Parent’s Best Friend

Most Children enjoy seeing their parents laugh and display a sense of humor.  It’s important to direct your laughter and humor toward a child’s actions or behavior rather than toward the child himself.  Parenting humor is best served when the child is laughing with you.  A child learns to develop a sense of humor when his or her parent displays this behavior as the child is growing up.