I partially blame this on my wonderful husband who also likes puns. He can't help it. A childhood filled with watching The Muppet Show taught him to appreciate a well turned phrase and the results are that I often get to hear the men in my life toss bad puns back and forth.
So, naturally, I join in. (Gotta meet them at their level.)
My son enjoys our family punnyness immensely. So much so, that he has started giving us pun points. If we get five in a week, we are supposed to get a prize, but I'm not sure if he is even keeping score. I am also not sure what the prize is.
The point isn't the awful puns (and believe me, they are awful). The point is that we are giving our son the freedom to be funny.
Children need to explore humor in their own way. And while my son enjoys a good slapstick adventure in a cartoon, he has learned that he can get a good chuckle from us for being witty. While I am glad he is learning that lesson, I wish that more girls were encouraged to be funny, too.
To this day, I have people at my office who are surprised that I am funny (or at least mildly entertaining). But I have found that my sense of humor has often served me well at work: There is something to be said about a well-timed joke to cut the tension or the ability to make your boss laugh. And it is important to encourage our children - no matter the gender - to learn more about their own senses of humor.
After all, laughter makes the world go 'round.
Is your child funny? Tell me about their sense of humor in the comments.
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