Why humour is good for kids

Engaging your child's sense of comedy boosts resilience and wellbeing.

Are you raising a future Monty Python fan or will your child crack up watching The Simpsons – and how much control does a parent have over their progeny's emerging sense of humour?

Considering how much time adults spend trying to make babies and children laugh, little research has been done into development of the childhood funny bone.

But what experts in the area of humour firmly believe is that being able to laugh plays a crucial role in the development of resilience and wellbeing, and can help children navigate through and cope with the different stages of life.

Nature versus nurture

Dr Louis Franzini, US author of Kids Who Laugh: How To Develop Your Child's Sense Of Humour (Square One), does not believe having a funny bone is inherent. "No-one is born with a great sense of humour, a poor sense of humour or even no sense of humour.

"A sense of humour is learned, just like most other skills we possess. Parents are the most important influences on their children's personalities. When a child's humour development is encouraged – that is, praised and appreciated by the world – it will flourish," he says. 



Dr Paul McGhee, a US guru on humour who has spent more than 20 years researching it, puts less pressure on mums and dads, claiming that even the offspring of the most sombre and grave parents will develop a sense of the ridiculous.

"Having said that, parents can play an important role in nurturing their child's sense of humour as it moves from one stage to the next. The key is modelling humour yourself, particularly at a child's level, and being able to laugh along at your child's efforts at humour.

"Parents should not be trying to steer their child's sense of humour in a particular direction but providing guidance about humour that's not hurtful, and establishing limits if their kids are taking it too far."

The benefits of laughing

Franzini says a keen sense of humour is linked to:

• Higher intelligence.
• More extensive creative abilities.
• Flexible thought processes.
• Greater sociability.
• High self-esteem.
• Better self-control skills. McGhee says it is also widely believed that having a good sense of humour can make kids more resilient.

"We've learned so much in the past 20 years about the importance of humour for physical and mental health that I think it is of the utmost importance for parents to help build this powerful coping tool in their kids," he says.

What parents can do

McGhee says you need to understand kiddie humour through the ages and build it into everyday lives. "Humour builds vocabulary and both pre-reading and reading skills, helps solidify the child's knowledge of the world, supports creative thinking, builds social interaction skills and boosts popularity and self-esteem," he says.

"Parents and care providers can help ensure a child receives these benefits by acquiring a good understanding of how young children's humour changes as they get older."

This is McGhee's age-appropriate humour guide during the comedic formative years of six months to seven years.

• The first year: The first belly laugh comes from something primary carers do, such as pulling silly faces.
• Ages 1-4: Littlies can find using objects "wrongly" – such as wearing a bowl as a hat – hysterical.
• Ages 2-5: With a growing grip on language, naming objects or people silly names – like saying your nose is your belly – often gets a giggle.
• Ages 3-5: Word play and making up nonsense combinations is very funny.
• Ages 6-7: This age loves a "knock, knock" joke – and they will laugh their heads off at their own jokes.

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