To gain some insight from a parent who knows how to tackle life with a sense of humor, we reached out to Serena, the woman behind the successful and hilarious parenting blog, Mommy Cusses. First, we asked Serena what inspired her to start sharing parenting content online. “It really was a ‘laugh so you don't cry’ type of thing,” she told Bored Panda. “I was depressed trying to be the ‘perfect’ mom for a long time and then one day I ran across a funny parenting tweet and it was such a relief, I thought ‘I want to do this. I want to make other parents feel less alone’.”
We also asked Serena what the funniest parts of being a parent are. “The funniest parts are when your kids are old enough to start showing their little personalities,” she shared. “They say and do the funniest things and it's a weird Dr. Frankenstein moment where you're like ‘I created this…’ The low-brow potty humor is also superb.”
Serena noted that having a sense of humor is a requirement for parents. “Having kids is very humbling and they relish in airing out your dirty laundry to strangers and narrating what you do in the public restroom stall to any other restroom patrons,” she explained.
We also asked Serena if she thinks it’s important for parents to have spaces where they can share their own experiences, fails and funny stories with one another. “I think it's crucial,” she told Bored Panda. “The first few years of my first child's life I really tried to be perfect and it was exhausting. I was struggling with postpartum depression and anxiety and didn't even know it because those things weren't being talked about much. We have to show the underbelly of parenting sometimes, not to scare mothers, but to let them know it's okay if/when they experience it.”
Serena also shared her own “parenting tweet of the month-worthy” story with us. “My 5-year-old just started a pre-k program they're doing at the elementary schools here, and every day I like to ask if she's made any friends, how her day was, etc.,” she explained. “Last week she turned the tables on me and asked if I talked to any other moms at pick-up ‘You know, like did you make any mom friends?’ and I cracked up. She wasn't being a smart-ass, she was genuinely curious, but I'm an introvert who struggles with anxiety and chatting up new people isn't one of my strengths.”
But along with all the struggles, Serena wouldn’t trade being a parent for the world. “I recently read the quote ‘motherhood is the hardest thing I've ever loved’ and it's spot-on,” she shared. “Being a mom is filled with so many dualities it makes your head spin, and you're not a bad mom for thinking ‘I love these kids so damn much,’ but also ‘If one more person who has been in my vagina asks me for something, I'm going to flip a table over’.”
If you’d like to hear more hilarious stories from Serena’s blog Mommy Cusses, as well as her book under the same name, you can find her website right here.
A great sense of humor can help anyone cope with the daily struggles of being a human, but it’s especially important for parents. There is no such thing as a perfect person, let alone a perfect parent, as we’re all just doing our best and making mistakes along the way. I say we meet those mistakes and challenges with a laugh. Laughter is the best medicine anyway!
In fact, laughing is actually a great way to combat stress, according to VeryWell Mind. Humor is also a valuable way for us to bond with one another, including our children, so it’s best for parents not to sweat the small stuff. If you accidentally send your kid to school wearing their clothes inside out because you didn’t notice during the rushed morning routine, don’t panic. Just laugh it off, and show your little one that there’s no reason to be upset about small accidents or embarrassing moments. Then grab your phone and tweet about the incident, so other parents can feel less alone in their daily struggles.
We all want our kids to be funny too, right? Well, what better way to teach them how to approach life with a sense of humor than to set the example ourselves? Kids love funny adults and will feel more closely bonded to parents who know how to be silly and come up with great jokes. An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but a daily dose of laughter can also go a long way in keeping your kids’ quality of life high.
Humor can even be used as a discipline tool, according to Parent Circle. “Parenting expert and author of Positive Discipline, Jane Nelsen, believes that humor is a key tool in successful discipline as it helps break the negative mood, not just for children but for parents too.” Even when our kids need to learn a lesson, we don’t want them to feel like we’ve turned into a police officer or make them feel resentful towards us. Humor can always be infused, even just a bit, to remind our little ones that we just want what’s best for them.
Parent Circle also explains that humor can be a great way to catch a child off guard to diffuse a situation. When a kid is crying or throwing a tantrum, they might be confused if you start doing something silly or pretend like you are crying as well in a funny voice. It can even help a kid forget what they were yelling about if their parents respond by laughing or telling a joke. Small children might not have learned how to handle their emotions yet, but as adults, we can show them that not every challenge, inconvenience and disappointment needs to be met with frustration. In fact, it can be much more productive and healthy to approach these situations with a lighthearted attitude.
Especially with older children and teenagers, humor can help strengthen a relationship that has become strained. It is perfectly common and understandable for an angsty, pubescent teen to pick fights with their parents. And it’s understandable why concerned parents sometimes want to keep a tight grip on their growing children who are expressing a desire for independence. But when the parent/child relationship becomes tense, we can always try to find a way to mend it through humor. Even if strong words were exchanged several hours prior, it’s important for our kids to know that they can always come back to us to receive comfort, safety and even a chuckle from their parents.
And while you may think there is a time and a place for parents and educators to use humor with kids, it might be interesting to know that it has even been known to promote learning. Sarah Henderson wrote a piece for Edutopia exploring how humor boosts retention, noting that, “Humor activates our sense of wonder, which is where learning begins, so it seems logical that humor could enhance retention.” She cited the example of a Pew Research Center study that found that people who watched humorous news outlets, such as The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, retained a higher number of facts than those who solely relied on traditional news sources.
Neuroscientists have also found that humor activates the brain’s dopamine reward system, which is important for goal-oriented motivation and long-term memory, Sarah explains. And in classrooms, educators have found that humor is an extremely valuable tool to help students retain information, whether they are kindergarteners or college students. I’m sure we can all recall sitting in a lecture hall using all of our energy to stay awake during a boring speech from a professor, whereas if we attended a stand-up comedy show, we could probably explain the information we heard in great detail. When educators infuse a bit of relevant humor into their lessons, students are likely to pay closer attention and remember more in the long run.
