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	04/15/2002

Stress Relief for Parents
One bellylaugh-a-day

Humor is the best medicine for easing tension, putting things in perspective and interrupting the 'blame game' that weighs down too many relationships within families. Do you sometimes take the antics of your children too seriously? When you feel your blood pressure rising, step back, take a deep breath, inject some perspective and laugh!

Try a dose or two of the following:

Family foolishness: Our children love to tell friends about family water fights, food fights, practical jokes (harmless ones), funny faces and goofy imitations of people and animals, wake-up calls with pots and pans or squeaky balloons, and hilarious hair-don'ts.

Games: Twister, rough-and-tumble play (dads make great jungle gyms), wacky variations on traditional games, such as: shoe-golf, cross country croquet (creating fanciful wicket placements) or relay races at family gatherings with nutty prizes. Our son and his friends invented wagon sledding one winter, a sport done on hard-packed hills and driveways. It caught on all over the neighborhood!

Silly meals: Your kids' friends will beg to come over for silly meals that begin with dessert before the main course. I always make the kids promise they'll eat their dinner. You will be amazed what even the most picky eaters will ingest for the privilege of having dessert first!

Books: Reading with your children every night will introduce you to dozens of songs, clever story lines and hilarious characters. Have fun creating your own bedtime tales, too, by inventing outrageous heroes, villains and plots.

Dramatic play: A few simple props and puppets can turn any kitchen counter or other makeshift stage into an instant theater. We had a wet bar in the basement where the kids strung up a simple curtain. Their favorite time of year for elaborate shows was—you guessed it— Halloween. Boys like play-acting just as much as girls do, especially when transformed into superheroes. To make capes for them, take a couple yards of material, cut out a semi-circle and attach two ribbons on either side as ties. Then stand back and watch the fun.

Creative exploration with materials that allow free rein of the imagination, such as: finger paints, clay, cookie dough, paper and glue, sand and water. Let fantasy take over. Every winter our daughter and some of her friends made gingerbread houses, but instead of gingerbread, their raw materials were Graham Crackers, frosting and candies. Imaginations take kids in some unexpected directions, as you well know. One year, instead of making cute little cottages, they collaborated on one large, intricate structure—a nuclear power plant! By the end of the evening, it had melted down... groan. Go ahead, Mom and Dad, join in the fun!

Cartoons from the funnypapers: Some of the ones I like that are always good for a laugh and a lesson are:

"Zits" by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman
"Twins" by Dave Lochner
"For Better or For Worse" by Lynn Johnston
"Foxtrot" by Bill Amend

Let your foibles show. For example, Dad Bruno gave a speech at our daughter's middle school graduation that was very long and boring. He based it on the word "scholarship," taking each letter of the word and relating it to a personality trait that students should strive for ("s" is for successful, "c" is for concise, and so on and on and on). Ever after, our kids and their classmates have ragged on Dad for what they call his "alphabet speech." At first he was mortified but later saw the humor in it, as well as the embarrassment for our daughter! To look back and laugh can be instructive, constructive and healing.

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Links:

Laughter is the Best Medicine: http://www.childhoodresources.com/article1054.html

Parenting Humor: http://www.parentinghumor.com/holidays/

The Sport of Parenting: http://www.workingasafamily.com/article1031.html

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Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.

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