Why Laughter is so Important for Children.

Among countless responsibilities attached to parenthood, one is helping your child establish a good sense of humour. Developing a good sense of humour guides your child towards the right path in life. We perceive humour as part of genetic makeup, however, it’s a learned quality that develops even in kindergarten kids. Humour is not something children are born with, but they could rely on it throughout their life.

Kids develop a sense of humour at a very young age. However, what is funny to a child in daycare won’t be funny to a teenager.

Laughter is a tool that is highly beneficial to your children in various ways. Let’s jump straight in.

1.      Laughter Improves Self-Esteem.

Humour is a desirable personality trait and it can help to boost self-esteem. The children also learn the healing power of humour at an early age while cheering up their sad friends, displaying the social skills of empathy and sympathy. As a consequence, laughter assists children to cope with stressful experiences in life by establishing resilience. Being resilient protects the children from mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. The children can hence laugh at their mistakes and accept that no one is perfect and keep trying.

2.      Physiological Benefits.

Laughter is highly beneficial for your child’s physical health. When your child laughs, their brain activates their memory, decision-making, and emotional processing. Children reap the following health benefits from laughter:

• Anxiety, stress, and depression are all reduced.
• Improved sleep.
• There is a release of the feel-good hormones.
• Improves circulation.
• Can have muscle relaxation effects.
• The body is re-energized.
• The immune system gets strengthened.
• Digestion is improved.
• Laughter increases tolerance to pain.
• Triggers the brain to boost mood.

3.      Developmental Benefits.

Humour diffuses stress, making it a crucial part of child development. Moreover, children adapt better to stress, trauma, tragedy, and adversity as laughter develop resilience. Furthermore, humour develops creativity. In child care, your child might choose to be super creative with arts and crafts, or with dress-ups. Creativity assists them to look at things from a different perspective as compared to the most obvious. The children also think outside the box, enjoy the playful part of life, and are more spontaneous, and don’t take themselves too seriously.

4.      Societal Benefits.

Smiling and laughing assists your child to improvise the way he/she perceives the surrounding world. This also enhances their ability to see the world from another person’s perspective, which assists in developing empathy and becoming a better problem solver. Laughter provides your child with a good distraction from negative emotions such as guilt and anger. Laughter is contagious because we tend to laugh when we hear others laughing, which leads to everyone’s mood being improved. Hence, everyone involved reaps the benefits of laughter.

Tips to  Get Your Children to Laugh.

• Tell jokes and funny stories.
• Play fun games.
• Look at funny family pictures.
• Read funny books and joke books.

Conclusion.

Making your children laugh is one of the greatest perks of parenting. To make many memorable moments filled with laughter and the satisfying feeling of laughing with others, you must get the entire family involved. Laughter makes your children’s life more pleasurable and more bearable in stressful situations. And remember, it’s never too early to start instilling a good sense of humor in your children. At early education centre Eskay Kids, we encourage humour.