For Mothers at Home

Humor is an opportunity for full-time moms to lighten up their world.

Articles within this series

by Jill Savage

Humor Hang-ups

Humor is an opportunity to lighten up our world. It helps us process life and manage relationships. Sometimes, though, we can’t seem to find the humor button. Here are snags that are sure to get in the way of laughter in our lives:

Overcommitment. We do too much and stay in a hurry.

Turning something joyful into a stressor. We let the responsibilities of a project outweigh the benefits. We make something more complicated than it needs to be.

Giving too much priority to the unimportant. We get upset about something that won’t matter a month from now. Do you ever argue with a child over something that simply isn’t important?

Fear that the person you are mad at will no longer be punished by your anger. When we use anger to punish, we are the ones who miss out, and we waste our energy.

Setting expectations too high. If we don’t accept that life with children will include disorder, we will stay frustrated because we feel out of control.

Forgetting how to have fun. Do you believe that now that you are an adult you can’t be silly anymore? Even as adults, we can still have slumber parties with our girlfriends, Chinese fire drills and pillow fights.

Do you have any humor hang-ups? It’s never too late to make changes and approach life with a different strategy.