Laughter and Humor: Is there any laughter in Parenting? How to Find Humor and Laughter in Life

"....Laughter actually serves many healthy functions. Research has indicated that even those who imagine laughing or belly jiggling (mimicking laughing) experience huge drops in the stress hormone (cortisol) and experience increases in feel good brain chemicals such as endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin. This is powerful stuff! Humor is a high level coping mechanism and learning how to find humor in the mundane or in yourself can help you fight stress, improve mood, feel more connected to others, and be healthier.


Parenting can be challenging and stress levels often reach maximum capacity. I do find however, that kids have a way of injecting laughter, humor, and silliness into our lives. Sometimes we s are so serious we just can’t appreciate what a gift these little creatures are offering us. I bet if each of us stopped and spent twenty minutes running around like monkeys, pretending to be superman, or dancing to the wiggles that our energy would increase, stress would reduce, and our ability to attend to those other tasks would be so much easier.


If you have difficulty finding the humor in life or maybe just in today, here are some suggestions to help:


1) Cut out funny cartoons and tape them in places you often look…like on the mirror,

or in your calendar book.

2) Spend 30 minutes at the end of the day and watch a sitcom.

3) Make funny faces to yourself in the mirror

4) Talk to someone who makes you laugh

5) Read greeting cards at a store

6) People watch (sometimes people trip or do silly things like get lost in parking lots)

7) Read jokes on the internet

8) Think about how your body feels when it laughs, picture yourself laughing out loud

9) Participate in laughter yoga

10) Tickle play with your mate


I challenge you today to find laughter and humor in your lives. Reducing your stress helps you be a better parent. I’d love to hear what you do to put humor in your life. Tell me the family stories that make you laugh!..." (tabathastewart blog)