Works For Me: Make 'Em Laugh
Today is Works-For-Me Wednesday: The Great Parenting Advice Edition, in which you share your best tip for imparting wisdom and character in the future generation of citizens. Or keeping everyone in one piece, whichever works for you.
More out of necessity than wisdom, I've learned to laugh with my kids. The more I observe all the relationships in my life, the more I see that humor is generally the glue that holds together shared values and experiences. We laugh as a family. A lot. We make inside jokes, we create reasons to crack up together, and sometimes we make ourselves laugh when we don't feel like it. And every time we do, I feel something pass between my children and me, something I can't quite explain.
I don't mean that we're lighthearted when we shouldn't be--we're plenty serious when the occasion requires it. But every day I see firsthand that there are fewer parenting tools more effective than making your child snort milk out his nose.
Since my kids were really little, I've had a little song-and-dance routine I pull out when the stress level is getting too thick. It started as a shameless attempt to get a laugh out of a baby; it has evolved over the years into a routine that involves ridiculous choreography and a big finish. My kids have ever-so-affectionately dubbed it "Mom's Dork Dance." And no, there is absolutely no way I will describe it to you, so don't even ask. Suffice it to say that it gets all of us (including me) laughing at just the right moment.
The fact that my finest parenting advice involves personal humiliation should be an indication to you that I need some more pointers. Enter your link below (link to your post, not to the front page of your blog--this is how you do it). WFMW guidelines can be found here.
For those of you who came by earlier to see the Mr. Linky gone...sorry about that. For some reason, I'm having major Mr. Linky technical issues lately. I think it may have to do with the fact that I use Typepad--Mr. Linky and Typepad don't always get along together. But I've drawn a line down the middle of the backseat and told them they have to play together peacefully without bugging each other, so we'll see what happens.
If the links should disappear again later today, rest assured I'll be working on it.
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