Try not to roll your eyes at dad jokes – they could be an example of good parenting. An expert researcher believes that dad jokes are important in helping children learn to feel embarrassed by their parents, which strengthens them as they survive the embarrassment of their parent's terrible jokes and realize that embarrassment isn’t so bad. The humor researcher and director of the Cognitive and Behavioral Lab at Aarhus University, Mark Hay Knudsen, writes to the British Psychological Society: "By eliciting emotions in their children while controlling their own emotions without resorting to bullying, parents build their children's resilience and teach them to handle mild attacks and episodes of negative emotions without weariness or outbursts, helping them learn emotional regulation and impulse control."
He added, "In this light, it’s worth considering dad jokes as an educational tool that may serve a beneficial function for children who direct their eyes at them. By constantly telling their children bad jokes that are so terrible they feel embarrassed, parents might push their children's limits on how much embarrassment they can withstand, showing them that embarrassment isn’t fatal."
According to experts, most dad jokes are completely harmless, and at best, they elicit a polite chuckle rather than genuine laughter, while at worst, they make people groan and roll their eyes. Knudsen says: “To all the parents who love to tell jokes to their children, don’t let their groans, eye rolls, or evident irritation stop you. You are participating in a long and proud tradition, and your terrible jokes may embarrassingly benefit you; through painful repetition, you might experience the same old joke going through waves of being unfunny to being so unfunny that it becomes funny.”
He continued: “One day, you might hear your children spontaneously telling the same joke, perhaps when they become parents themselves. This, if nothing else, is tangible evidence that our input as parents has an impact.”
