Science keeps proving that humor and laugh are a great medicine and it’s definitely not something you have or you don’t, but you can develop through practice. Think of laughter as the yin to stress’s yang. According to Dr. Lee Berk, an associate professor at Loma Linda University in California, your mind, hormone system and immune system are constantly communicating with one another in ways that impact everything from your mood to your ability to fend off sickness and disease. He says laughter shuts down the release of stress hormones like cortisol. It also triggers the production of feel-good neurochemicals like dopamine, which have all kinds of calming, anti-anxiety benefits.Good laugh will bring your mind and body very fast in balance.

Another good news is that, when it comes to developing a sense of humor, there is no age restriction. You can encourage your child’s sense of humor at any age.

Only important thing here is to know some specifics about every category. Babies for example know   when you are happy or sad. They will sense your emotions and tend to imitate it. Tickling and blowing raspberries on their tummies are always good choice for them. Toddlers on the others side love surprises and as they are developing language skills, non-sense words are interesting for them. A preschooler is more likely to  find humor  in a picture with something out of whack like caricatures. As they are growing they will discover the pleasure of telling simple jokes  and repeating them as much as possible. Eventually they will understand sarcasm and irony.

One study showed that  some children  at age three  (but typically around five) are able to understand some forms of irony. In the experiment, children watched a puppet show and were asked questions about what they saw. An example of irony was when one puppet broke a plate and the other commented: “Your mum will be very happy”. Some children could laugh and understand that this wasn’t literal and that the mum would in fact not be happy at all.

You can encourage your child’s sense of humor at any age. Copyright: Rido

Whatever age they are, general recommendation to parents are to be a good role- humor model.

Instead of passive approach like giving them to watch TV or tablet videos, try to be more proactive. You can be the one that makes your kid laughing  and not cartoon or a YouTube character. So make sure to spend some quality time with your kids, really engage and be spontaneous, imaginative and playful – just like when you were a kid.

Here are some ways:

• make up some new jokes together,
• make funny faces and noises,
• play pantomime,
• be gracious with small catastrophes,
• share your stories from younger days,
• or imitate animals .

Don’t worry, they will love it! You could learn a lot about yourself from their reactions as well. Just be sure that you pick the right one for their age so they could understand and interact. And soon they will give it a shot as well. When this happens, praise your kid for being witty and be open for surprises.

When making up their own jokes, children often draw inspiration from whatever they are learning about. Even more important, this helps them process social rules. Joking about it  is a good way to learn about the social rituals  and emotions that go along with this process.

This doesn’t benefit only your kids, but it’s great for you as parents as well. In this way you could distance yourself from everyday problems and use this time as stress – free zone. So, it is important that a child sees both Mom and Dad playing and laughing, because he learns by example and that will be one of the best for sure. Just keep in mind the lyrics of the well-known song:  Always look on the bright side of life!

The post How to be a good role – humor model to your kid? appeared first on Novak Djokovic Foundation.

Nauka uporno dokazuje da su humor i smeh odličan lek, i da smisao za humor nije nešto sa čime se neko jednostavno rodi ili ne, već nešto što može da se razvije vežbanjem. Gledajte na smejanje kao da je jin na stresov jang. Prema mišljenju doktora Li Berk (Lee Berk), profesora na Loma Linda Univerzitetu u Kaliforniji, Vaš um, hormonski sistem i imuni sistem stalno komuniciraju tako da utiču na sve u Vašem telu – od Vašeg raspoloženja do Vaše sposobnosti da se izborite sa virusima. Kaže da smejanje sprečava ispuštanje stres hormona, poput kortizola. Takođe, izaziva stvaranje neurokemikalija sreće, kao što je dopamin, koji imaju razne umirujuće i anti-anksiozne efekte. Dobar smeh brzo dovodi Vaše telo i um u balans. 

Još jedna dobra vest jeste da ne postoji starosna granica što se tiče smisla za humor. Možete ohrabriti smisao za humor Vašeg deteta bez obzira na to koliko godina ima.

Jedino je bitno da imate u vidu neke specifičnosti koje su karakteristične za svaki period razvoja deteta. Bebe na primer osećaju kada je roditelj tužan ili srećan. One osećaju emocije roditelja i nastoje da ih imitiraju. Golicanje ili duvanje u stomak bebe je uvek dobar izbor. Deca koja imaju 2-4 godine vole iznenađenja, i buduće da su u procesu učenja govora, za njih su reči koje nemaju smisla ili imitiranje zvukova jako zanimljivi. Predškolcima su smešne slike, ili nešto čudno poput karikatura. Kako bude raslo, tako će dete otkrivati jednostavne šale i biće mu zanimljivo da ih više puta ponavlja. A vremenom će naučiti da shvata sarkazam i ironiju.

Jedno istraživanje je pokazalo da su neka deca koja imaju 3 godine (iako je to obično moguće tek kod dece koja imaju 5 godina) sposobna da razumeju neke primere ironije. U tom eksperimentu, deca su gledala lutkarsku predstavu nakon čega su ih pitali da ispričaju šta su videli tokom predstave. Jedan primer ironije je bio kada je jedna lutka slomila tanjir, a druga je prokomentarisala: ,,Mama će biti jako srećna”. Pojedina deca su se smejala i razumela da lutka nije to bukvalno mislila, nego da mama zapravo uopšte neće biti srećna.

Možete ohrabriti smisao za humor Vašeg deteta bez obzira na to koliko godina ima.Copyright: Potstock

Koliko god godina dete imalo, opšta preporuka za roditelje jeste – budite dobar uzor za humor!

Umesto pasivnog pristupa, kada im samo date da gledaju TV ili YouTube klipove, potrudite se da budete više proaktivni. Vi možete biti ti koji će nasmejati dete, a ne crtani ili neki YouTube karakter. Zato se potrudite da provedete više kvalitetnog vremena sa Vašim detetom, povežite se sa njim i budite spontani, maštoviti i živahni – kao kada ste i sami bili dete.

Evo nekoliko ideja:

• izmislite zajedno sa detetom neke nove šale;
• pravite grimase i smešne zvuke;
• igrajte se pantomima;
• šalite se kada se dese neke male, bezopasne nezgode;
• ispričajte im vaše priče iz detinjstva; ili
• imitirajte životinje.

Ne brinite se, svideće im se! Zapravo, možete dosta naučiti i o sebi na osnovu njihovih reakcija. Samo vodite računa da izaberete šalu koja odgovara detetovim godinama, kako bi ono moglo da razume i da učestvuje. Podstaknuto Vašim primerom, dete će se brzo osamostaliti i probati i samo. Kada se to bude desilo, obavezno ga pohvalite i spremite se za prelepa iznenađenja.Kada sama smišljaju šale, deca često pronalaze inspiraciju u svemu što uče. Još bitnije, šale im pomažu da razumeju neke društvene norme.

Razvijanje smisla za humor, nije dobro samo za Vaše dete, nego i za Vas. Na taj način možete da se udaljite od nekih svakodnevnih problema i da koristite to vreme kao neku “stress-free” zonu. Zato je važno da dete vidi i mamu i tatu kako se smeju i igraju, jer ono uči na osnovu modela, a to je jedan od najboljih primera. Samo se setite reči poznate pesme: Always look on the bright side of life!

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