A recent study from Penn State Universtity highlights the positive impact of humor in parenting. Researchers found that parents who use humor tend to have better relationships with their children. The study revealed that children whose parents used humor often viewed their upbringing more favorably and maintained stronger bonds with them.
Senior author of the study and professor of pediatrics and humanities at Penn State College of Medicine Benjamin Levi said, “Humor can teach people cognitive flexibility, relieve stress, and promote creative problem solving and resilience.”
According to the study’s results, there’s a significant difference in parent-child relationship quality based on humor. Of those who reported their parents used humor, 50.5% said they had a good relationship with their parents, and 44.2% believed their parents did a good job parenting. In contrast, among those whose parents did not use humor, only 2.9% reported having a good relationship with them, and only 3.6% felt their parents did well in raising them.
Although humor and play have been studied in various fields, this research is among the first to focus on humor's role in parenting. Lucy Emery, a co-author of the study, draws parallels between humor's impact in business and family settings. She notes that humor can diminish hierarchies and ease tensions, which can be quite helpful in both corporate environments and parent-child relationships.
Overall, Professor Levi hopes that people will learn to use humor as an effective parenting tool to diffuse tension, build resilience, and develop cognitive and emotional flexibility in themselves and their children.
Picture: Mother, father, daugther and son laughing together (Designer)
