Create laughter and humour in your family

Humour improves children's (and adults') sense of wellbeing, it alleviates stress and helps family members feel more emotionally connected to each other. Laughter can really shift a child's or parent's mood in a very short time.

Parenting a disabled child often brings a fair amount of stress and worry, and it can be hard to get into the mood for humour at times. Many parents at workshops say that the laughter has gone out of their family. However, many siblings we talk to have found it beneficial to be able to see the funny side of things and really enjoy it when their parents laugh or clown around. Shared funny times are often the memories that people remember most about their childhood. Help your children have a store of fun memories for the years ahead.

Some ideas for promoting laughter with your children:

• Watch comedy, funny films together
• Tell each other jokes at mealtimes
• Jape around with them, in a way they enjoy
• Do they like tickling or horse play? (some children hate tickles – so ask first)
• Read comics, funny stories, joke books
• Do silly stuff like whoopee cushions, dressing up in silly clothes
• Play games that create laughter, like charades
• Pretend to be someone else in a way your children find both silly and funny
• See who can keep a straight face longest while someone tries to make the others laugh
• Draw silly pictures together
• Put some funny posters or quotations up in the kitchen
• Act in an exaggerated way doing an everyday activity – e.g. being a slapdash waiter when you serve up tea.
• If something has made the children laugh before, like a catchphrase or odd word, use it again when they are not expecting it
• See the funny side of something embarrassing or awful that happened - like being able to laugh at all the tins falling down in the supermarket - not funny at the time of course, but it may be something the family can laugh at later, remembering those 'shocked' faces of other shoppers!

Make sure the humour is shared and is not hurtful to anyone. Ask your children what makes them laugh and do more of whatever they suggest.