LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE: HOW TO BE HAPPY AND HEALTHY AS A FAMILY
Laughter is the best medicine and a great way to build a happy and healthy family. Find out how to laugh more with tips from Bright Horizons!
We have all experienced the benefits of good, hearty laughter. Among other health advantages, laughter can lower blood pressure, reduce stress, boost your immune system, and increase memory, alertness and creativity. If laughter is good for individuals, it must be good for building a healthy family. Families that laugh together also tend to be happy, healthy families that enjoy being together and support each other in fun times and hard times.
With the many demands of daily life—preparing healthy lunches and snacks, going to school and work, washing clothes, driving to extracurricular activities—who has time for fun? Busy as we are, it is worth figuring out how to build some fun into your family’s life on a regular basis. Whether it’s singing silly songs in the car or telling jokes while you wait for your food at a restaurant, it’s important to find time to laugh together. Here are a few ideas to laugh more and build a happy & healthy family.
HOW TO LAUGH EVERYDAY WITH YOUR FAMILY
- Be silly. Make exaggerated mistakes and let your child correct you. “This is a shirt? I thought it was called a zirt!” Or call the dog by the cat’s name, and let your child set you straight.
- Try gentle roughhousing. Use a timer and set it for a short time like 2 minutes. Offer only gentle resistance and let your child win. Falling down in an exaggerated way with only light touch, similar to what clowns do, can get your kids to laugh more without much effort.
- Make senseless songs. You can do this by substituting silly words in your child’s favorite songs. “Old McDonald had a farm … and on that farm he had a hippopotamus.” Let your child correct you – “There aren’t hippos on a farm!”
- Help build a sense of humor. Buy a children’s joke book and teach your child some simple “Knock, Knock” jokes. Helping your children build a sense of humor will not only encourage your whole family to laugh more but also show the value of laughter, which can help them overcome adversity in the future.
- Read funny books. Children often find incongruity funny (a lion who likes the library, for example). They also enjoy books that include the fun of word play and silly rhyming.
SHIJINA RIJESH