"What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul."
Yiddish proverb




Ever have one of those days where you say "I will look back on this and laugh someday?" You might as well go ahead and start laughing now, because in my experience, laughter truly does cleanse the soul.

When you and your child don't speak the same language, the frustration level in your home can become rather high and lead to meltdowns. Your child might even have a meltdown as well! :)

Seriously, when the tensions are running rather high, it is wise to try and defuse the situation with laughter. Just last night when Caleb was letting us know how unhappy he was with life in general by having a meltdown in his room, I commented that these episodes were occurring with such regularity each evening that perhaps we should pop popcorn and sell tickets for front row seating. I wasn't making fun of Caleb's situation, but rather laughing at something that otherwise was very stressful.

In an article by Jeff Call titled "Laugh Your Way Through Life" that appeared in BYU Magazine, Gary Palmer, a teaching professor of Recreation Management at Brigham Young University shares how laughter and humor can enhance our lives.

He says they can also help people live longer and happier lives, be more creative and productive, and have more energy and feel less physical discomfort. Go ahead and laugh (it's good for you), but Palmer has collected serious research to back up his claim. Studies show that humor has extraordinary healing power, he says. It reduces stress, fear, intimidation, embarrassment, and anger. When a person laughs, blood pressure decreases, heart rate and respiration increase, the body releases endorphins, and depression declines.

"After you have a hearty laugh, every major muscle group in your body is activated and you feel great," Palmer says. "After it subsides and you relax again, that good feeling has a lasting effect, even until the next day. There aren't many medicines that will do that."

Two days ago, Caleb was in our cul-de-sac riding his bicycle which was a newly learned skill of only a few days. As he turned his head to proudly yell "Mama!" to me, he rode right into a parked car. It was one of those situations where you need to offer sympathy even though it looked hilariously funny. Later that night after Caleb and I had experienced some serious miscommunications and frustration with each other, I went to rub his arm to let him know I was sorry. I touched a spot that had hit the car and he winced and pulled away. He then looked at me and mimed riding a bike and then crashing into the car while at the same time saying "zzzzzz...tong!" We looked at each other and both burst into laughter.

When you are struggling to communicate with your child and would like to sit down and cry, consider laughing at yourself instead.

As Bill Cosby once said, “Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it.”