Parenting can get tricky when your child exhibits unruly behavior. To restore your relationship with your child, humor can go a long way. This DYPDSS blog discusses how humor can help you build a strong and satisfying relationship with your children.

According to psychologists, keeping a good sense of humor as you discipline your growing child makes your child feel more connected and reduces conflicts too. Laughter can actually help bring more happiness and unity and can make discipline easier for you both.

Start with humor and harness more shared experiences
Humor can relieve the stress of a situation. When your child knows they have made a mistake, they experience a rise in stress in anticipation of your reaction. Being appropriately silly can help alleviate stress for your child and make them instantly connected with you. Sharing a laugh means that both people have similar views, and acknowledging similarities is one of the best ways to strengthen bonds.

Ensure that you never use teasing as a form of discipline. Instead, focus on supporting your child to be acceptable and kind towards the mistakes and shortcomings of other people.

Humor for different age groups
Finding a guided way to approach parenting challenges with humor, will help to diffuse the negative emotions and turn it into positive experiences. The type of humor you use will vary based on your child’s age and your desired outcome.

• Young children: Preschool and early elementary
  Using reverse psychology or catchy phrases can work well with this age group. If your child is refusing to do something, insert a catchy and an encouraging phrase for that particular thing that you want them to do. Having a go-to song or jingle for different scenarios can be a great way to break the tension and get your young child to comply with your requests.
• Preteens
  Assert some independence and use situational humor to gradually connect and teach them. Once the humor starts helping diffusing situations, they will articulate the importance of compliance by themselves.
• Teenagers
  Research shows a correlation between parenting styles that adopt humor and teenagers’ self-esteem and satisfaction. Go for a sarcasm-based approach that acknowledges their independence and also reminds them that you both are on the same team.

If you liked this blog, share it with the parents you know and help them too strengthen their bond. Stay tuned with us for more interesting parenting blogs.