Somewhere in the world today, right now, there is a child singing the most serene tune of childhood for all to hear. She plays in a sandbox, a worm crawling across her hand, or feels the whiskers of her daddy’s chin tickle her belly – and she is laughing. This laughter, which comes straight from the heart and is void of any comical intervention, is the simplest, most explicit joy in the world, bringing new meaning to the word truth.
When a child laughs, they are happy and self-indulged. They are tickled with joy and overcome with sheer happiness that is often lost on adults. They laugh when things are funny, and even when they are not. They laugh at the most ridiculous states of themselves and others without shame or embarrassment.
In fact, proving that the joy of a child’s laughter is so covetable, there are figures that support the idea that each time a child laughs, a parent spends $2.17. Of all the commercial kid-friendly conglomerates, Disney executives know this perhaps the best. They work emphatically to get and keep children laughing as part of their duty to society and to their bottom line. The laughter of children, not just for Disney, but also for parents, teachers, and humanity alike, is a small proof of giant success and a tasty, palpable glimpse of happiness.
The Simple Magic of Laughter: What Children Teach Us
The best part about children is that they are often unedited. It doesn’t take the most well-crafted comedic skit to get them belly laughing into hysterics. It isn’t always the misfortune of someone else falling down the stairs or leaving toilet paper trailing from their pants that makes them want to laugh. Instead, children laugh because they are still living in a heightened state of optimism and faith, where all things to be, to come, and that were, are fragments of a perfect and harmonious world filled with magic that only children still believe in.
Rather than finding ways to make children laugh, buying toys to keep them laughing, or providing surprises to provoke a laugh, adults should be spending more time finding ways to maintain their own laughter, so it remains a part of who they are. We should look at our children laughing at the way it feels to have the wind on their face, sand in their shoes, and water on their toes—and wonder why we don’t laugh at the same things anymore.
Laughter isn’t supposed to be about being funny. It isn’t supposed to be something we work hard to accomplish. It shouldn’t have to be prescribed as a way to de-stress, and it should not be hard to find. After all, it lived in our hearts once too. The question is: where did it go? Mark Twain once said, “The human race has only one really effective weapon, and that weapon is laughter!” Laughter can keep us young and healthy. It can change a negative mindset and shatter the shrill silence of being overwhelmed, fatigued, defeated, and sad. Laughter can conquer all things and cannot be beaten—whether it’s our own or our children’s.
Suffice it to say, children have something to teach us. As we look back on our lives and laugh at all the stupid mistakes we’ve made, decisions we’ve rushed to make, troubles that consumed us, and endearing moments that have taken our breath away, we will laugh without inhibition—just like a child. Not because it is funny, but because it is who we are, and we are happy somehow.
The joy of a child’s laugh cannot be bottled or resisted. It cannot be bought, despite what the people at Disney say—and it can’t be recaptured. Each time they laugh, it’s like the first time all over again, and their world is new, fresh, full of imagination, and completely moldable to their whims and wishes. Children laugh because they know life is easy, and they know that laughter feels good—even, and perhaps especially, in the most serious of moments. As we envelop ourselves in the joy of children laughing, we should try to recapture our own laughter and spread the magic around.
