The Sense Of Humor

No matter how much we say each kid is different and we should not compare we still lovingly maintain every single achievement the kids make.

Her first words even if they were just goo goo or gaa gaa

When she first said Mama or Papa

When she first had solid food

Her first walk

Her first walk in the park

First day in school etc, I am sure all you parents have your own version of some achievement of your kids that you are proud of.

But you know there is one thing that sets us humans apart from all other animals and that is our sense of humor. I don’t think any other species make fun of each other or tell jokes.

The other animals (we too are animals as per Zoology), may eat each other, harass the less strong ones in the litter, play with each other by pulling their tales as in case of monkeys but I don’t think they have a sense of humor.

I still remember our elder one when she was learning antonyms and synonyms when she first showed sense of humor.

Her mom was asking her antonyms of various words.

So it went like

Day – Night

Good- Bad

Tasty – yucky

Then the missus said Thin, and as I watched, the kiddo repeated Thin- and instead of saying fat the kiddo said “Papa”, and gave the cutest smile that only parents can understand and looked at me. For a minute we were zapped what she is saying and who taught this. Only to realize that she was cracking a joke on her father. All of us gave a hearty laugh before giving her a long lecture on not making fun of her father. I think that is the earliest instance of me noticing a sense of humor in our elder daughter, which has only blossomed over time.

The younger one proved to be more methodical and one day decided to tell me a joke

“Papa, once there was an aunty, she had only three hair”

So one day she had to go to a party and she asked her maid to make a chotee (plait) for her”

But one hair broke so she was now with only 2 hairs. So she told her maid

“Careful don’t break my other two hair”. But the comb broke one more hair of her.

So she was upset, but she was in a hurry, so she told the maid,

“Ok, I will have to go with my hair open”, and then without waiting for us she started giggling like any 4 year old.

We also had a good laugh and asked her who taught her the joke. She had heard the joke in her school and thought it would be a good one to tell her parents.

As someone who thinks that a sense of humor is a very important trait in anybody, I am always happy when the kids show a sense of humor.

So let me ask a question here, “How many of you noticed when your kid first showed a sense of humor, please do share it here in comments”

If psychologists are to be believed developing a sense of humor is an essential part of growing up and those with a good sense of humor tend to take stressful situation better than those who take life too seriously. Trust me the joy you will get on sharing a lighter moment with your kids will be in no way less than noticing their physical milestones of walking, talking etc.

Sasha and Prasad Np are proud parents of 2 girls whom they fondly call Princess and Pinkette. He wears many hats after taking a break from being corner office critter for a long time. He is now an entrepreneur, blogger, photographer, traveler and a potential investor in start-ups with unique concepts especially if they are in travel related business. He blogs at Desi Traveler, and can be reached at Facebook and Twitter.