A common ritual in our family is to crowd in our 18-month-old daughter’s room before her bedtime with no plans other than to just be together.

Freshly bathed, in her pyjamas and surrounded by all her favourite toys, Squish is at her happiest during this part of the day — what we like to call her “golden hour”. She potters, sings, dances and dotes on her baby brother while we my wife and I catch up on the day and settle into the evening.

It is also during golden hour that Squish is at her giggliest. Horsey rides, tickle fights and silly faces are common fare during these precious times. In fact, the reason we enjoy so much family laughter before her bedtime is because we don’t have anything else on the schedule, and no screens or other digital distractions around.

Conscious Effort

Fun, we have discovered, is a discipline.

There are some nights I’d rather be elsewhere, and other nights when work or other commitments feel more pressing than playtime. But I have learned the value of carving out this time with my family — and when I do, I am regularly reminded that the happy and humorous memories we make together will outlast anything else I could have prioritised.

For me, the highlight of golden hour is when I can coax Squish into fits of uncontrollable laughter. There’s no better sound in the world than my daughter’s rapid-fire giggle.

And as it turns out, the laughter she experiences during these crucial chapters of her childhood comes with benefits that will leave a lasting imprint.

A study published just last July in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE found that humour plays an incredibly important role in parenting.

Conducted by researchers at Penn State University, the study examined how parental humour impacts parent-child relationships. After surveying more than 2,000 parents and 312 individuals aged 18 to 45, researchers found that humour teaches cognitive flexibility, relieves stress, and promotes creative problem-solving and resilience.

Additionally, parents who use humour are viewed more positively by their children, and enjoy stronger relationships with their kids as they transition into adulthood.

“Of those who reported that their parents used humour, 50.5% said they had a good relationship with their parents and 44.2% reported they felt their parents did a good job parenting them,” the report noted.

By contrast: “Of those who said their parents didn’t use humour, only 2.9% reported a good relationship with their parents and 3.6% reported that they thought their parents did a good job parenting them.”

Overall, 92% of parents reported engaging in playful activities with their children, and 72% of respondents agreed that humour is a constructive parenting tool.

The science of laughter is solid, in other words.

Joy in Simplicity

But that doesn’t mean laughter is rocket science.

Recently, entertainment writer Lance Marwood shared footage of his baby boy giggling with glee at the sound of packing tape unrolling. Talk about cheap laughs!

Your baby laughs for the same reason you do: they delight the unexpected.

Think about standup comedy. The set-up establishes a premise, then the punchline takes it in a surprising direction.

So many of you have shared this viral video of Lance Marwood (lowkeyhellish on TT),… pic.twitter.com/OWIZA5DY9A

— Dan Wuori (@DanWuori) January 5, 2025

The footage of Marwood’s son is a reminder that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to making your kids laugh. Just be bored with them — spend enough unplanned time doing everyday things with them — and the laughter is bound to follow.

Fortunately, my children are still too young for me to stoop into fabled “dad joke” territory — though that time will come as surely as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Until then, it’s funny noises, contorted faces and plenty of tickles for my kids — as we make memories that will last a lifetime.

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Image courtesy of Pexels.