Why Suppress Humor?

05/15/2013

Collaboration promises disagreements, negotiation, and compromise, as well as new understandings, warm intimacy, and shared pride.
Ann Pelo

In his article "Laughter and Humor — Not Just Kids Stuff" in the Beginnings Professional Development Workshop on Humor, John Morreall made this observation:

"Humor is an integral part of young children’s play, as it is of human play generally. When children are feeling secure and happy with other children, or with adults, laughter is the most natural sound. According to a factoid that has circulated for years, preschoolers laugh 200-300 times a day, while adults laugh only 15-20 times a day. I’ve never found a reliable source for those numbers, but I do know that schools — from kindergartens to graduate and professional programs — systematically suppress laughter. In school, the child with musical ability may be sent to the music room, and the one with artistic skill may go to the art room, but the child with the good sense of humor is sent to the principal’s office.

"One thing that gets suppressed by schools along with humor and laughter is emotional range. Most young children have at least a dozen faces, but many adults limp through life with two or three faces — or worse, just that all-purpose Professional Cool face. Knowing when and how to engage in humor, is part of emotional intelligence."

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