the goofy parent

There are few pure, simple (and yet totally awesome), joys in life than laughing with your children. Being goofy, silly, and probably completely obnoxious from an outsiders point of view, rank high on a good parent's neccessary skill set! When in doubt, when on the verge of a break down or a tantrum, when you want to turn a sad situation into a smiley one, a good parent will often resort to doing something you normally would NEVER consider doing...like pretend burping (or other bodily noises) or singing Elmo style to the tune of jingle bells.

Being goofy has gotten me out of a jam or helped to avoid a jam many a time. Often occurring in the car and usually in attempt to keep one or both kids awake!  We have two favorite goofy games that get us giggling almost immediately.  There is a song on the show Peppa Pig that Peppa's classroom sing...the "Bing, bang, bong" song.  In our game, my daughter attempts to teach this song to her brother and me. Our response to her efforts is that we continue to repeat the song back to her incorrectly...making up all sorts of other words that rhyme with bing, bang, and bong. Its a never ending game that includes anyone who wants to participate! 

The other goofy game we play is similar to the one above.  In this game, Mom tries to get the kids to say "fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair, fuzzy wuzzy wasn't very fuzzy, was he?" The kids are asked to repeat various parts of the phrase back to me and of course they never say it exactly how it's suppose to go, making up all sorts of other phrases that hurl us into unending laughter.

Tonight, just for kicks my daughter and I stood in the bathroom in front of the mirror (she had just brushed her teeth)....first we were trying to see who could hold their breath the longest. Then it turned into the "no talking game," and then it morphed into who could make who laugh first! I was in tears! We would both just outburst into complete laughter and everything that was said or done was hilarious in those moments! That went on in excess of 30 minutes!

It doesn't take much to laugh with your kids...you don't need an arsenal of jokes, it doesn't have to involve tickling, and it's so much more rewarding to laugh with them than at them!  Parents can often get bogged down with the day to day routine...don't undermine the value to laughter in lifting up your spirits and building a strong relationship with your kids!