Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/what-makes-young-children-laugh-a-developmental-perspective/5021049/
A mother waves hello to her baby and then ducks down to hide behind the footboard of the crib. The baby immediately bursts into tears. Feeling guilty, the mother rushes over to comfort her baby. A month later, she carefully tries the same routine. She bends down, and then as she pops up and waves “hello,” her baby starts laughing hysterically. She and the baby repeat the process over and over, with laughter resulting each time she reappears.An 18-month old has taken a recent interest in naming animals, often pointing and saying “dog” or “cat.” A couple of months later, her father points to a cat and says “dog.” The baby starts laughing and says “dog!” After playing this game for several days with her father, she takes the lead pointing to a dog and saying “cat” and giggling excitedly. And eventually, she points at her father and says “Mommy,” and starts laughing.
What do these two examples of baby’s laughter have in common? In both cases, the babies find humor when the grown-up plays or creates a game with vital cognitive-developmental skills the children have recently mastered �" object permanence, in the first case, and language skills for ...