What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?
A carrot.
Dad jokes like this doozy flow freely at our house, thanks to yours truly.
I’m shameless about it. I have no apologies. I’m here all week, folks.
My kids aren’t as big of fans. It was a dad joke like the one above that made me question if little girls have an innate ability to roll their eyes at you. That’s what our 9-year-old did when she was 3 — 3! — after I laid an especially cheesy humdinger on her and her sisters years ago.
Who cares? I got nothing to lose, except maybe my dignity.
There have also been times — like when I mixed some sick dance moves with snow-blowing in our driveway — that I cracked a few smiles.
And it’s not just my ego that gets a little boost when I get one of them or my wife (bonus points) to grin. Turns out, humor could be the key to good parenting.
No joke, dads.
“Even if your kids roll their eyes, keep making jokes,” a recent CNN headline reads. The article cites recent survey data suggesting that people raised by adults who used humor:
- Have a better view of their parents or caregivers
- Are more likely to say they have a good relationship with them
- Are more likely to say their parents or caregivers raised them well
- Say they would use the same parenting techniques if they could
So let’s hear it for all the dads and uncles out there cracking the cheesiest jokes.
But what is it about a good chuckle that makes for good parenting?
“It sort of forces you to react differently, which opens up new perspectives and new opportunities,” Benjamin Levi, professor of pediatrics and humanities at Penn State College of Medicine, told CNN. “That kind of connection can be very (encouraging) for the relationship between the parent and the kid.”
Research cited in the article suggests that humor can also:
- Help diffuse sour moods
- Strengthen bonds with your kids
- Promote language, literacy skills and creative problem solving
- Help kids cope with disappointment
I can testify to those first two — and how they also apply to the adults at our house.
Several years ago, I was having a bad day. I don’t remember why, but I remember it was my birthday and how my three young daughters cheered me up by parading around our house in my shoes and with my pants drooping around their hips.
It was more than cute. It was funny. I laughed.
I don’t remember if it changed my mood all day, but it made things feel lighter.
This all reminds me of a good dad joke I heard the other day.
What did the police officer say to the belly button? You’re under a vest.
I’ll let myself out.
