Advantages of a good mood
A sense of humor is necessary in family life as much as discipline, education or values. It allows us to see problems in their correct dimension, neither overestimated nor underestimated. Knowing how to laugh at our mistakes and harshness makes it easier to redirect situations that would otherwise increase tensions and conflicts. In addition, laughter is one of the expressions that brings the most benefits to a person.
As our children grow older and we begin to feel responsible for their education, we become perfectionists. Driven by tension and stress, we spend most of our time reactively correcting, or emphasizing mistakes, conflicts, and difficulties, and we forget to spend time with them having fun. We stop being models of happy and funny people, worthy of being imitated for their high sense of humor.
Let's be aware that happiness and good humor are also educated. Throughout the day we have many opportunities to live our relationship with children in an entertaining way. A funny and cheerful father or mother is as or more credible than those who are always serious.
The first jokes
One of the most common manifestations of humor is jokes. They are strongly linked to the values and cultural habits of a society. There is a whole oral tradition of jokes and sayings that children pass on to each other and then tell them at home to “see what happens”. To the little ones of four or five years, who begin to discover what jokes are and begin to test their skills with them, they seem the maximum of humor and wit. We graciously accept these displays of childish humor, which we find a bit naive.
Their humor is presented as something very simple, because they are not yet able to understand or reproduce long and complex narrative structures. Furthermore, the subtleties of irony and double meanings are out of his reach for now. So what they catch your eye and catch your eye are very elementary rhymes and puns. Although at this age his humor is so imitative and obvious, we must not underestimate its importance. For example, jokes with puns are for them real tongue twisters in which they exercise the mechanisms of language.
The "risque" jokes
Humor is not always white and immaculate. When children realize that a joke they have heard is strong, they can be careful to save it to share only with each other. Still, on other occasions, they tell it to us to test its effect. Many times they do not know the scope of what they have heard, but they intuit it, which makes it very tempting to tell it to see what happens.
It is best not to be too rigid as we run the risk of creating mental phantoms and unnecessary prohibitions. Certain things should not be given more importance than they are.
However, we must also indicate to them when they exceed the bad taste. It should be done with the firmness but also with the necessary delicacy. If they do not exercise with us the difference between what is and what is not admissible, they will hardly learn it elsewhere.
Sometimes it is also a matter of opportunity to be able to afford certain graces and certain expressions. There are things that can be said at certain times and places. Although young children take some time to gauge what is inconvenient and what is not, it is our own example that will ultimately work on them.
Jokes as warnings
It is very common for children to repeat the same joke over and over again. At this age, repetitive behaviors are not strange, and even more so if we laughed at their joke the first time. However, it is important to be attentive because some concerns or small obsessions of children can be revealed in these repetitive jokes. It is very likely that if our son always tells the same “green” joke, he is asking us for a little more sexual information that will clear up a few questions that intrigue him or cause him confusion.
Many times, when a child insists on provoking us with rude words or repeatedly embarrasses us with visits, there is a problem that he does not know how to express in another way. This behavior may be a way of warning us that you are jealous of your brother, that he is doing poorly in school, or that you need more attention from us. It is essential that we be attentive to these indirect claims, in order to be able to respond to their problems and anguish.
Tips for dealing with sibling rivalry
- Verbal humor helps exercise various aspects of language.
- It also fulfills an important socializing function. Help group spirit and camaraderie, unite and create complicity.
- Children are making their first friends, and laughing together helps them bond.
- A sense of humor can provide prestige and popularity with peers.
- Humor is linked to personality traits such as extroversion and creativity.
- It produces experiences of acuity and intellectual progress.
- Learning to laugh at our mistakes makes it easier to redirect situations that would otherwise increase tensions and family conflicts.
- A liberal and tolerant educational style favors a sense of humor in children, whereas humor is often lacking when parents are rigid and authoritarian.
- An excessively serious child should alert us: he may not be happy.
