What children laugh about and why parents should laugh too

The teacher asks who discovered America ... no ... the class should show where America is on the globe," seven-year-old Luka tells his mum a joke, beaming with joy. «The teacher calls little Dieter to show where America is.» His mum finds it difficult to follow her son at first. What he is saying is too confusing. Nevertheless, she listens patiently.

Because, like all children his age, Luka first has to remember the joke. Putting everything in the right order when telling the story is not so easy either. «Then the teacher asks, and who discovered America?» Luka giggles with excitement. «Everyone shouts: Little Dieter!»

Laughter helps

«Humour makes life easier,» says humour researcher Jenny Hofmann. Because laughter not only triggers positive emotions. Negative ones are also inhibited: mishaps and the world itself are accepted more calmly. As a senior assistant at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Zurich, Hofmann conducts research into humour and laughter in particular. «Humour helps us to cope with worries, stress and conflicts,» she says.

Schadenfreude is one of the oldest forms of humour and laughter and one of 16 positive emotions.

Jenny Hofmann, humour researcher

This makes it easier for children in particular to get through everyday life. Making contact with others or showing boundaries is easier with jokes. Even aggression fizzles out. «For children, humour is above all play. Playing with ideas, concepts and the environment,» says the humour expert.

Children can show that they know familiar concepts and know what is «right» and «wrong». This is particularly fun for children starting school. This is how they process the tension of the first year of school. Riddles and jokes about stupid and clever people are therefore popular.

Jokes promote language skills

But humour can do so much more: telling jokes or inventing word games promotes cognitive development and language skills. Take Luka: at his age, children begin to understand that a word can have several meanings. This logic finds its way into humour development. But even short jokes like: «What is seven times seven? Very fine sand» is difficult at first and needs to be practised.

Even rather grotesque and clownish things are still perceived as funny by school starters. At this age, children also laugh themselves silly at unintentional damage and disasters. A horror for many parents. «No need to feel bad,» reassures Hofmann.

Boys have a provocative, competitive type of humour. Girls usually have a more cooperative and subtle sense of humour.

Christine Bierbach in her book "The laughter of the sexes"

«Schadenfreude is one of the oldest forms of humour and laughter and one of 16 positive emotions.» Hofmann emphasises that schadenfreude can also have good sides: «Addressing schadenfreude can highlight injustices. It is often particularly strong in young people and is usually at its greatest when someone has done you wrong and then something happens to that person.» It can also be seen as an opportunity to teach children empathy.

Adults often find it difficult to understand children's sense of humour. Many jokes only elicit a tired smile. «Humour is a question of age. Primary school pupils don't understand or appreciate the same kind of humour as secondary school pupils or adults,» says Hofmann.

There are even differences among primary school pupils. With «joke beginners», the punch line is usually lost in the telling - the very act of telling a joke makes them laugh so hard. Boys in particular simply forget the punch line. Girls are more adept at this.

Differences between girls and boys

According to German humour researcher Christine Bierbach, girls usually structure jokes better and more comprehensibly, as they are also more cooperative in conversation and attach importance to being understood exactly and letting others finish. Boys, on the other hand, prefer to come in with a bang in order to get attention and speak as often as possible.

Humour promotes self-esteem

It is the social component that makes telling jokes so appealing to children. As soon as they have told a joke well or understood it immediately, their ambition awakens. They want to do it more often and, above all, better. It is also good for their intellectual development: You need certain mental skills to understand a joke or comic.

Every time they experience success, children are encouraged to develop this further. It also certainly makes them more self-confident. Research by American child psychologist and resilience research pioneer Ann S. Masten has shown that children with a sense of humour are usually engaged, attentive, cooperative and popular. They are also often described as leaders.

From primary 2 to 4, the humorous programme starts with nonsense and pranks. Taboo subjects are also tackled with humour. Gradually, the children also enjoy going against logic and norms. They begin to question why they are actually laughing at something.

From the age of nine to ten, everything changes: humour becomes pantomime. Linguistic and mimicry imitation, mockery and teasing suddenly have great comic potential. Class clowns are now particularly popular. «But they don't necessarily have more humour than their quieter classmates,» says Hofmann. He is just extroverted. In this age group, an understanding of irony and satire is slowly emerging. Eleven to twelve-year-olds then increasingly expect witty humour. They even use ironic self-reflection to conceal their own problems and mistakes.

Like many characteristics, humour development is also influenced by peers. However, parents can also do something to improve their children's understanding of humour. «We show our children what and who it's okay to laugh at.» Hofmann therefore advises them to laugh together with their children more often and let them tell jokes.