Children and Humour

How do you teach a child humour? Or how do they develop their sense of humour?

Tasha is a happy child and she enjoys a good laugh. However, I don't think she quite grasp the idea of humour. She knows that jokes are funny and she enjoys telling jokes. Some times she tells her favourite jokes again and again: Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 ate (8) 9!. I guess she has yet to understand that jokes ceased to be funny once it has been told. But, she is improving. Just the other night, after dinner, I had a little tummy ache (as usual, I probably had too much to eat). So, I said, “my tummy feels a little funny”. Without missing a beat, she asked, “so why aren’t you laughing?”. That’s funny coming from a child.

What she still has problem with is “physical” humour. When she does something funny and we laugh, she thinks we are laughing “at” her and she gets really upset. I hope, in time, she will “get” it.