My weekly post at ForeverParenting is up. 🙂 I thought Giggles was a good thing to think about in the last minute hecticness (is that a word?) before Christmas.
Is there anything more beautiful than hearing your child laugh? My favorite is when the boys start giggling about something and let me in on the joke. Ooooh, or if I make a joke and they get it. I love that too.
Sometimes I listen to them talking when they’re not aware of me, and smile along with them when they tell each other stories and start one-upping the endings until the craziness of it all consumes them and the collapse on the floor laughing hysterically.
Lately we’ve been trying to use more humor with the boys… there’s been enough stress for the parental units around here that we found ourselves frowning and losing patience too much.
Captain Earthquake, who is 5, tends to believe that if a person is unhappy about something he should remain unhappy about said issue for an appropriate length of time. Unfortunately for him, his sense of humor is developing well, and both Hubby and I have been able to tease him into laughter recently. Yesterday he started whining about some offense or other and showed up to share the “joy” with me. When I started suggesting that he whine louder he didn’t know what to make of it. So I grabbed him in a big hug and started coaching him on how to throw a Grade A Tantrum.
I knew I had him when he had to cover his mouth to hide the smile. The more suggestions I made, the more the giggles started sneaking out from between his lips. When I mentioned what a great effect he could have if he threw himself on the floor and held his breath, he lost it completely and laughed long and loud. (Fortunately for me, he’s never seen anyone put that much effort into a fit so he thought I was kidding.)
Another favorite is the laughter around the lunch table. One of the things I’ve worried about (in home schooling) is them missing out on the lunchtimes with friends. Not to worry, the kids are okay. As I write, they’re eating orange slices and finding extreme hilarity in various ways of consuming the fruit. Reactions to a sour bit are worth wild laughter from all brothers, especially the 5 year olds.
So what makes your kids laugh? Got a good giggle story for us? Leave a comment and share the joy with the group!
Earnest Parenting: advice for parents who love to laugh.