Parents who incorporate humor into their child-rearing may be more likely to build good relationships with their children

If your parents are good at telling puns and jokes, your kids might be put off by them and think, 'Oh, that's another weird thing to say.' But a new study suggests that bringing humor into parenting can help build a better relationship with your kids.

Humor in parenting: Does it have a role? | PLOS ONE

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0306311

Parents who use humor have better relationships with their children, study finds | Penn State University
https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/parents-who-use-humor-have-better-relationships-their-children-study-finds

Study: Parents Who Use Humor May Have Better Relationships With Kids : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/study-parents-who-use-humor-may-have-better-relationships-with-kids

'Humor can give people cognitive flexibility, reduce stress, and promote creative problem-solving and resilience,' said Benjamin Levy, M.D. , a professor of pediatrics at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. 'My father used humor, and it was very effective. I use humor in my practice and with my own children. The question was, how do you use humor constructively?' he said.

In human society, humor is known to have the effect of smoothing interpersonal relationships and promoting interaction. Until now, the effects of humor and play in various situations have been studied, but no formal research has been conducted on the use of humor in parenting.

'There's an interesting parallel between business and parenting - both are hierarchical ,' said lead author Lucy Emery, a pediatric resident at Boston Children's Hospital. 'In business, humor has been shown to reduce tension and create a better environment for collaboration and creativity.'

The researchers developed a survey to measure people's experiences and opinions on humor and parenting, and had 312 participants complete it through an online tool. Participants were aged 18-45, 63.6% were male, and 76.6% were white.

Over half of the participants said they were raised by people with a sense of humor, and 71.8% agreed that humor can be an effective parenting tool. Most participants also said they currently use humor in their parenting or intend to use humor in their future parenting.

Furthermore, a correlation was found between whether one's parents used humor in raising their children and parent-child relationships. Of participants who answered that they had a good relationship with their parents, 63% said that their parents used humor, while only 3.7% said that their parents did not. Among participants who answered that they thought their parents raised them well, 68.4% said that their parents used humor, while 5.6% said that their parents did not.

These results suggest that parents who use humor in their parenting may have a better relationship with their children. The research team is currently conducting a survey of a larger group of parents based on these results, as well as

'Although parent-child relationships are more loving than business relationships, stressful situations often arise when raising children,' Emery said. 'Humor helps diffuse that tension and hierarchy and makes both parties feel better in stressful situations.'