Laughter is the Best Medicine
Steve looked deadly serious. This was understandable because he’d had
a rough life. By the time Steve was 16, he had been in foster care for
13 years and had been through more than 15 placements. He had been
called a “difficult case” with little chance at a “normal life.”
During our initial office visit, he paid a great deal of attention to
the various games and toys I kept in my office. He told me that he
never had played with toys when he was a kid. He had always been too
busy. Noticing how much he kept looking at the water pistol I kept on
the shelf, I couldn’t help but take the water pistol and shoot a stream
of water right at him.
He looked at me in disbelief but was even more shocked when I placed
another loaded squirt gun in front of him and said “Defend yourself
sir” in my best “Errol Flynn” voice. We spent the next 1/2 hour
shooting squirt guns and laughing like six year olds.
Young people are under a great deal of pressure today. Humor and play
time during childhood seem to be getting shorter as young people face
more pressure to succeed in life. Those who work with young people as
volunteers through Compeer or other youth programs and those who work
as professional counselors all face the difficult task of building
positive healthy relationships with youth. Building these
relationships can be stressful. Humor is an essential experience for
young people and those who work with them.
Humor is beneficial in several ways:
* Shared laughter produces a shared understanding. Humor is a form of
communication. When a group experiences humor they become more
cohesive. The same is true of adults and youth. Humor bridges the
generation gap.
* Humor makes you feel better. Laughing at stressful events relieves
tension and anxiety. This makes more energy available for the task at
hand.
* Humor holds attention. There are thousands of products and
activities which can distract young people. One way to hold their
attention is to make the work fun and enjoyable.
* Playing helps learning. We learned some of the basic skills for
adulthood by pretending to be cowboys, parents or the president. Young
people can learn valuable skills by role playing.
In order to begin using humor with young people, here are some helpful hints to get you started:
* Laugh with children. Don’t laugh at them. Young people don’t have
their personalities fully formed yet. They are particularly sensitive
to being laughed at. Fortunately, young people find many things funny
and there are endless opportunities to share a mutual laugh.
*Laugh at yourself. By not taking yourself so seriously young people
will see you as more open and trustworthy and children will often test
this with good-natured humor.
* Get children to laugh at life’s little catastrophes. Children are
prone to think that events are the end of the world and need a tool to
put them into perspective.
And it’s not only children who need laughter in their lives. Adults do
too! Even though humor has many benefits, adults can be reluctant to
share humor with someone younger. It is as if adults believe that they
are supposed to model rational behavior to try and counterbalance the
irrational behavior of youth. In truth, adults need humor as much, if
not more, than children. Studies have shown that adults who have fun
at work are more productive, creative and have less stress. Young
people need to see that you can be responsible and productive and still
have fun and enjoyment. Not only does that make growing up more
appealing, it’s better for the adult also. So take some time out to
laugh today!
Published in the Optimist Magazine by Mark Darby.
From the Book "Use It or Lose It: Humor and the Treatment of Mental Illness"
Article found at www.mdarby.com/kids.html
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