Upbringing
March 17, 2023 | 12:02 p.m
One expert said dad jokes are important in helping children learn how to deal with embarrassment. Getty Images
When does a joke become a dad joke? If it catches your eye.
Try not to groan at the cheesy dad jokes — they might actually be good for kids.
One expert wrote in the Journal of the British Psychological Society that father jokes are important in helping children overcome embarrassment and hardening them to accept that embarrassment is not necessarily a bad thing.
Marc Hye-Knudsen, humor researcher and lab leader at Aarhus University’s Cognitive and Behavioral Laboratory in Denmark, explained how teasing and wild play can support a child’s physical and cognitive development.
“By teasingly lashing out at their children’s egos and emotions without resorting to bullying, fathers build their children’s resilience and train them to withstand minor attacks and bouts of negative emotion without getting upset or overdoing it, teaching them impulse control and Emotion regulation.” Hye-Knudsen wrote.
Dad jokes are often answered with a groan and an eye roll, but sometimes they’re so unfunny that they’re actually humorous and elicit a small laugh. Getty Images
He continued, “With that in mind, it’s worth considering dad jokes as an educational tool that can serve a useful function, especially for those kids who roll their eyes.”
“By constantly telling their children jokes that are so bad they are embarrassing, fathers can push their children’s limits on how much embarrassment they can take. They show their kids that embarrassment doesn’t kill.”
According to the expert, dad jokes have three levels: puns, anti-humor, and armed anti-humor when used to tease, tease, or embarrass children.
Teasing and rough play can support a child’s physical and cognitive development.Getty Images
The term “dad joke” made it into the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2019 with the definition “a wholesome joke of the kind allegedly told by fathers with a punch line that is often an obvious or predictable pun or play on words, and usually as endearingly cheesy or unfunny.”
Dad jokes are often answered with a groan and an eye roll, but sometimes they’re so unfunny that they’re actually humorous and elicit a small laugh.
Hye-Knudsen encouraged dads to keep up their unfunny jokes — no matter how bad their kids want them to stop.
“So to all the dads out there who love telling their kids dad jokes, don’t let their groans, eye rolls, or obvious irritation stop you. They’re part of a long and proud tradition, and your embarrassingly awful jokes might even do them some good,” he said.
“Year in, year out repeat the same old-fashioned puns. Through painful repetition, you experience the same old joke going through waves of becoming unfunny and then unfunny enough to become funny,” he continued. “One day you might hear your kids spontaneously tell the same joke, maybe when they become parents themselves.”
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