Sense of Humor

A sense of humor is essential to survive the child rearing years of life!  The things that you face as a parent can either be extremely frustrating or hilarious.  How you respond will affect both you and your child.  This past week, I had to remind myself of this while I cleaned up peanut butter off almost every surface in the living room including my son, bleach "tie-died" my inconsolable daughter's favorite dress which she had just stained, and negotiated with a melting down daughter about how long we would stay at her school's family night, considering it was already past her brother's bed time.  Sometimes I just have to laugh or cry, so I try to find my sense of humor and laugh!

The Sense of Humor tool card says to remember to laugh and have fun, but be sensitive to times when humor is not appropriate.  There are times where an upset child does or says something so ridiculous that your first response is to just laugh, but you have to know how sensitive your child is and whether your laugh will be helpful or hurtful!  Making fun of a child by laughing at them is not usually helpful, but if you can find a way to do or say something silly so that you can both laugh you can lighten the situation very quickly.

Remember, to help children do better we have to help them to feel better.  Sometimes a silly voice, a funny face, or pair of underwear on your head is all it takes to help your child snap out of a situation that has become much more serious than need be.  Not only does laughing provide a distraction, it also just makes you feel better.  Laughing releases endorphins that make you feel good!  Give it a try, you really have nothing to lose or remember with this tool.

I can't wait until next week to share with you our experience with Silent Signals.