How to Laugh With a Youngster

Are you laughing enough?

Children laugh a lot. Giggling, being silly, cracking up, wiggling, seeing the funny side of things comes naturally for young ones. They don't hold back like adults and parents. If your family could use more laughter, if you're longing to lighten up-here are eight ways to kick start your funny bone.

Things You'll Need

• A funny bone
• Knock-knock jokes

Instructions

1. Start with a Smile.
   Smiling is contagious. Smile at everyone you meet, including family and strangers, and see what happens. Try it everyday for one week. Smile, even if you're feeling slightly grouchy or as W.C. Fields advised, "Start every day with a smile and get it over with."

2. Fake a laugh.
   Pretend to laugh. Laugh out loud. Start with a hearty "Ha! Ha! Ha!" and then go into it totally. Release all your pent-up emotions. Soon the kids will see that you're having so much fun they'll join in the game too. It won't take long and fake laughter will turn into the real thing. Kids love it when parents set aside the parental side and play.

3. Repeat Words in a Creative Pattern.
   Children are attuned to the way words fit together. A repetitive nonsense phrase like "daddy, maddy, haddy, laddy" or "mom-ma-roo-loo-la-lu" attracts 3 to 5-year-olds' attention. Kids and adults can have fun playing and creating nonsense word games together.

4. Exaggerate Funny Sounds.
   Click your tongue, recite riddles, hop on one foot and flap your arms like a chicken. When a parent does something unusual that is beyond what the child expects, that's one sure way to bring on gales of laughter.

5. Repeat Knock-Knock Jokes.
   By age 5, children are interested in verbal humor and that is why knock-knock jokes are big with 5-year-olds. Memorize a few and share them with youngsters and you'll be sure to hear some back. Remember, even if the kids don't understand the joke, they like telling jokes, so be sure to laugh anyway. Don't spoil this first attempt at humor.

6. Fall Down, Stumble, Whack Yourself on the Back.
   Kids appreciate physical comedy. No one quite knows for sure why it is that children tend to laugh at things that physically happen. Anything unexpected that isn't hurtful can be funny to a kid. Perhaps that's why cartoons where everyone is hitting each other over the head are so popular.

7. Take the Cure
   Make friends with feel-good endorphins by exercising your laughing muscles. A good belly laugh releases positive endorphins, and that's good for turning a bad mood into a better mood. When bogged down, gloomy or stressed out, laughing is an inexpensive cure.

8. Count Laughs.
   On the average, human beings laugh about 17 times a day. Keep track throughout the day of how many times you're laughing. Play the the counting laugh game with your kids too. Compare the final count at the end of the day. If it's under 17 times, that means that you have more laughing to get in before you go to bed. The kids and you will sleep better if you laugh more.