Joking with Kids Helps Them Develop Life Skills

A group of researchers has recently determined that kids who spend a lot of time playing and joking with their parents appeared to be significantly more capable of developing life skills than peers who did not engage in such activities.

Playing pretend also proved to be an excellent way of achieving the same objective, the research group explains. For most parents, doing this comes naturally, but those who know themselves to be a bit more reluctant could have something to learn from this study.

Joking and pretending “involve intentionally doing or saying the wrong thing. However, joking is about doing something wrong just for the sake of it,” lead study researcher Elena Hoicka explains, as quoted by PsychCentral.

“In contrast, pretending is about doing something wrong which is imagined to be right. For example, parents might use a sponge like a duck while pretending but use a cat as a duck when joking,” she adds.