“Laughter is the best medicine” isn’t just a cute catchphrase; it’s a well-researched fact. The benefits of a sense of humor stretch from language and social skills to emotional and physical health. What’s more, studies show that humor can be taught, starting in babyhood!

The Benefits of Humor

Humor supports development and equips your child with life skills in several areas, including these:

Relationships

Your first important task as a parent is developing an attachment with your child. Smiles, silly voices, and kisses on her bare belly help to form a warm bond between you. As your baby grows and begins smiling and laughing herself, humor is an easy way to create positive back-and-forth that builds the architecture of her brain.

Developing a sense of humor can benefit her in later relationships as well. Studies show that people with a sense of humor tend to be viewed as trustworthy, dependable and kind, form and sustain friendships with ease, experience less interpersonal conflict, and have happier marriages.

Language Skills

Language development begins at birth, and Speech-Language Pathologist Mandy Alvarez says that humor supports early, pre-speech language in important ways. “Using silly faces and funny voices helps your baby engage and connect with you,” Alvarez says. “The facial expressions, different tones of voice and gestures all teach her about expressing emotion nonverbally. Humor also encourages her to anticipate what is going to happen next, which is actually very important for language development.”

Alvarez adds that as language continues to develop throughout childhood, interacting through funny books, songs and jokes promotes higher-level language and cognitive skills including:

• Flexibly of language (manipulating words and grammar to play with meaning).
• Playing with intonation to express different things.
• Moving from concrete thinking to abstract thinking.

Social Skills

Alvarez highlights how humor enhances social development as well: “Humor helps children engage with others and learn to express emotion.” It also teaches children to be aware of other’s feelings, she says, because children learn to adapt humor according to how other people respond to it.

Emotional Health

Laughter releases chemicals in the brain that lift our mood. Teaching your child to use humor during times of negative emotion is a valuable life skill. Humor also contributes to emotional intelligence, which will help her manage her emotions and the emotions of others.

What’s more, a sense of humor enhances self-esteem because it elicits positive feedback from others.

Physical Health

People who habitually use humor to cope with stress have superior immune systems, are less likely to experience a heart attack or stroke, have higher pain tolerance, and live longer.

Creativity

The type of thinking involved in humor is linked to the type of thinking involved in creativity, suggesting that the two reinforce each other.

Positive Discipline

There are times when your child’s behavior is no laughing matter, but experts tout humor as a powerful disciplinary tool. It can surprise, disarm, distract, motivate, change your child’s mood, and stop a power struggle in its tracks.

Learning

Humor supports any type of learning. Not only does it engender likability, trust and confidence in the teacher (at this age, you!), it also motivates your child, especially if she’s reluctant or frustrated.

What You Can Do

Now that you know the power of humor, it’s time to laugh! Head over to this article for tips on how to weave humor into your relationship with your little one, right from the start.