Get those shitty puns cranking fathers, because science has proven that dad jokes are good for children
Marc Gye-Knudesen completed research on what dad jokes actually teach kids and published the findings in the British Psychological Society journal. Titled âDad jokes? Thatâs the way eye rollâŠâ, the study finds that children benefit from the corny humour commonly attributed to fathers as it helps them deal with feeling embarrassed.
âBy continually telling their children jokes that are so bad that theyâre embarrassing, fathers may push their childrenâs limits for how much embarrassment they can handle,â the article reads. They show their children that embarrassment isnât fatal.â
Gye-Knudesen sees dad jokes as the verbal equivalent of playfighting with kids. In that it may be harder for the kids to handle (teasing, for example) but it ultimately helps the child to âregulate behaviours and emotionsâ.
âBy teasingly striking at their childrenâs egos and emotions without teetering over into bullying, fathers build their childrenâs resilience and train them to withstand minor attacks and bouts of negative emotion without getting worked up or acting out, teaching them impulse control and emotional regulation.â
âIn this way, dad jokes resemble the rough-and-tumble play that fathers have instinctively been moved to engage their children in since before the dawn of our species, without knowing the important function that such roughhousing plays in their childrenâs development.â
Therefore, the study encourages fathers to keep on firing off dad jokes, no matter the response from children or spouses.
âSo to all the dads out there who love telling dad jokes to your kids: donât let their groans, their eye-rolls, or their palpable irritation stop you,â he said. âYouâre partaking in a long and proud tradition, and your embarrassingly awful jokes may even do them some good.â
Dads everywhere can finally rejoice that their intentional shit chat is a positive for the family. Let the dad jokes roll.