The other day, I heard two young children talking on the bus—they were taking turns telling each other jokes that they appeared to be making up on the spot. While I didn’t exactly understand the humor behind each joke they told, they certainly were tickled with themselves and each other and it reminded me of when my own children were going through the “joke” stage. It was all about trying to make up and tell silly and amusing jokes.
Story-telling and jokes become great fun for children around the time they enter elementary school. 5-8 year-olds are prime members of the goofy and silly joke-telling group. Some of these jokes can be quite witty and fun, but many just don’t play as well on parental ears as they do with the peer group. It can help parents to keep in mind that developing a sense of humor is a major tasks and one of the key elements to resiliency and being socially well-adjusted. You may notice a distinct interest in potty-jokes and potty-humor around this age. Rest assured that if you ignore it, it really will go away (only to reappear in the humor of a 13-year-old boy) and there’s just no convincing them that it really isn’t funny.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t set some standards and teach children when it is appropriate to tell jokes (playground, sleepovers, chatting on the bus) and when it is not (in class when the teacher is talking, church, funerals, etc.) but it might help to just trust the process and understand that it is an entirely typical developmental stage. You can actually have fun with it too and have each family member take turns telling a joke at the dinner table or while you’re waiting in traffic for a train. Simply asking your 7 year-old, “Have you heard any good jokes lately?” will likely get a more enthusiastic response than “What did you do in school today?” If you visit your local library, you’ll see there are dozens and dozens of joke books totally geared toward this age group—for the very reason that they really love telling and hearing jokes. You can use these books to brush up on your own repertoire, or encourage a beginning reader.
See Also: Knock Knock Jokes to Share With Your Kids
Jokes to Make Your Kids Giggle