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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Do You Laugh With Your Kids?

Samuel, my ten-year-old, came into the kitchen and held out his hand. "Look mom, I'm double-jointed!" He went on to make motions and wave his fingers around my face in comical ways. 

I tried hard to keep a straight face, while visions of Spock and Captain Kirk danced in my head.

"So, what exactly does that mean, son?"

"It means that no one can ever break my fingers." He said in all seriousness. "Someone would have to smash my hand to really hurt me."

After he left the kitchen, I busted a gut.

Now, there's a difference between laughing at your kids and laughing with them. But, in order to laugh with them you must begin to see the humor in every day moments.

I come from a family of hopeless comedians, and thankfully, I'm married to quite a funny guy as well. Laughter is heard in our home every day. I know it's not very funny to say we're funny...but we're funny.

What about your home? Do you laugh with your children? Do your children hear you laughing with your husband?

Here's a few ways to bring laughter into your home, no matter what your comedic skill.

  • Watch a movie together. Our family loves to rent a DVD and laugh out loud. Some of our favorites? Finding Nemo. Summer Rental. Scrooged. Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The Princess Bride.
  • Watch home videos. At least once a year I'll bring out some home movies. The kids think it's hysterical watching each other when they were small.
  • Get a joke book. The library is full of funny books and joke books for any age. Some of the funniest are the ones written for children. When Samuel brought home 101 Jokes and shared a few with us. The punch lines were so pathetically bad we couldn't help but crack up.
  • It's okay to look silly every once in awhile. Make faces, dance around the kitchen, talk in a funny voice when you read a bedtime story to your little ones.
Children bring incredible joy into our lives. It's a fair trade off when we can bring a little laughter into theirs.


Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them." Psalm 126:2 esv   



2 comments:

  1. We've always been a laughing family...but since MK has joined us, we have been a hysterical family!!!!

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  2. Love Love this... unfortunately, what my kids find funny (read: potty jokes) and what I find funny aren't necessarily aligned but it's still important for us to find time to laugh. Thanks for the reminder.

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