My children are used to my warped sense of humour. They should be since it is one of my favourite coping strategies for parenting all four of them.
Fun-slightly-terrifying fact: if you google “warped sense of humour,” you will be bombarded with articles stating it may be the early signs of dementia. Ahem. Moving on.
We know that laughter is important for general human health. So many benefits to laughter:
As children, we used to laugh hundreds of times a day, but as adults, life tends to be more serious and laughter more infrequent. By seeking out more opportunities for humor and laughter, though, you can improve your emotional health, strengthen your relationships, find greater happiness—and even add years to your life. Helpguide.org
So you’re either losing your mind or you’ll extend your lifetime. I’m putting my money on the latter.
Laughter helps me cope with deep emotions like this one.
I worry my boys may have inherited a dose of this dry humour from their mama.
In grade 2, my son’s class was practising carefully following instructions for a formal government-issued test. I found his sample test.
Some moms worry their sons don’t express their feelings.
I don’t.
Sometimes I forget others may not share this form of humour.
I recall trying to offset a tense moment when a child at church was the last to be picked up by his parents. I thought it would help lighten the mood if I joked that he could clean the classroom all week, and then get picked up the next Sunday.
Who wouldn’t see the humour in that?
What child could possibly think I was serious and burst into tears?
I don’t try to be cruel.
My aim is certainly not to cause harm.
My warped mind simply jumps to strange conclusions and sees humour in things that are probably not funny.
when did this all begin?
I have physical proof that this problem started when I was a teenager, if not sooner. My dad had left an innocent note to my mom, informing her of his fatigue and his need to have a wee rest.
Marlene,
I’m pooped. Gone to bed.
Love,
Neil
///
With the flick of my pen, my mom came home to find a slightly modified, strange pronouncement.
Marlene,
I’ve pooped. Gone to bed.
etc. etc.
///
I simply can not help myself.
Knowing me well, my family of origin has learned that I am not the one to call when one needs a listening ear or sincere comfort. If there is a genuine crisis—yes.
If there is lesser drama that might have a teeny, tiny, iota of humour, they should really call someone else. Like another sister. Or our mother.
One sister recently called my house with a crisis. As soon as I answered my phone, she asked if our mom was there. Hmph. Skipped right past me knowing thinking I would have nothing helpful to offer.
The crisis? A mouse practically attacked her when she was in her powder room. There was a kerfuffle that involved not even flushing and a whole lot of screaming.
This is me gasping that she didn’t flush.
I was not implying this was her gasping at the mouse. If you thought that, then you are more insensitive than me.
Our mother offered all the right support.
A listening ear. Sympathy. Practical suggestions for catching the perpetrator. I may have even spotted an empathetic tear.
Me?
I forwarded her this:
See why she skipped right past me on the phone?
///
Does your warped sense of humour ever get you into trouble Chime in! Read more of the craziness here at Lightly Frayed.
Love this! 🙂
Thanks Jenn! My poor husband has endured this sense of humour for 19 years 😉
Simply hilarious 🙂 I wish I was that funny all the time. I aspire to have a warped sense of humour, because how could I not?! Ability to laugh at yourself and situations you find yourself in can save lives, and can save you from a dull life 🙂
It definitely helps me parent. Although my kids have been known to eye roll and I have to work MUCH harder these days to convince them I’m even a teeny bit funny. MUST spend more time with adults – teens are brutal on the self-esteem 😉
I haven’t laughed that hard in days!
Then my work here is done. Don’t we all need to laugh more? My boys would have appreciated a mom today who laughed more and steely-eyed less. So thankful for fresh beginnings at sunrise.
Ummm….YES. To all of it. My favourite is watching non-warped-sense-of-humour Sister 2’s children try to make sense of your sarcasm. The best.
Most traumatic childhood memory of this “humour” you speak of…
When Mom bought Cheerios by accident (*GASP!)…while she was busy apologizing for her grave mistake, you thought it would be funny to just write “Honey Nut” on the box. And watch me cry all over again that not only did I not have Honey Nut Cheerios, but I had a sister who thought it was FUNNY that I didn’t. 😉
PS. 99.9% of the time I LOVE your warped sense of humour. And I’m kind of glad I have a bit of it, too. Sometimes I forget children don’t always understand sarcasm. Like when I tell them they will have to sleep over at the school if they don’t get their snowpants on faster…#traumatizedforlife
Yikes. I’m worse than I thought. Sorry Sister4
I can totally picture the faces of Sister # 2’s kids! Ha! Ha! Great article! So fun!
Nothing like hearing stories about people you know, right? Although I’m not positive the kids were there this time. It’s all a blur since I was more focused on how this would make a good story one day 🙂
OMG. Love this! Like I literally can’t fill out your newsletter sign up fast enough now!
And I didn’t even pay you to say that, right? You made my day Beth.
Every single time I need a good cheer me up, I’m gonna come here and hang out!!
My oldest son (15) informed me “it wasn’t that funny” – ummm… yes it was!! 😀
Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom and helping me to aspire to laugh more and steely-eye less (and I also have a frowny wrinkle that is slowly getting better, but I have hope you’ll help me get rid of it completely)
Okay, enough fan love – have a wonderful day!!
Oh – I have to say that my 15 year old was in the next room and has no idea what I was reading, he just heard me busting a gut!
Love freaking my kids out by laughing hard!
You have officially made my day. Let’s see if we can conquer those frowny wrinkles together! Welcome.
Girl, I like you better and better every day! Considering this is Day 2, I like you twice as much as yesterday.
You are speaking two of my love languages. Nice words AND some solid math. Thanks Dawn!
Karen, so funny! I of course loved the nod to Sid the Sloth. The Mice are Nice book was perfect 😉
Your email click button was great…couldn’t resist clicking through to read!!
Hilarious, Karen! I appreciate your warped sense of humor…perhaps that means I have early onset dementia 😉 Personally, I think our world could use more laughter! Thanks for a great way to start my Friday!
I sure agree, April (about our world needing more laughter, not that you have dementia – yikes!)
Glad to make you smile.
Love it. Humor is meant to be warped. 🙂
I agree Kayley – thankfully I’m raising kids who believe the same thing. Nothing like good, clean humour!
I was laughing out loud at this! I relate so much. I have a very dry sense of humor, and sometimes it comes off as rude, though (usually) it’s not intentional. 😉 P.S. Your sons are too funny!
How did I miss your laugh out loud lovin’ Eryn? Yep – I suffer from being misunderstood at times too. It’s really neat to watch each child develop their own sense of humour – some more warped than others. 😉
My dry sense of humor has left me in my awkward moments than I can count. Sometimes I suppose I’m just beyond my years in humor.
Love this so much! Excellent writer and sense of humor.
Aw – thanks so much Karie – you spoke my love language – words 😉
Good one Karen😂 I can totally relate! I love pulling pranks…some times they backfire.
I hear you! But at least life will not be dull with us around, right? I read about one Mom who took an entire day to rearrange (by COLOUR!) her husband’s bookshelves – knowing he would hate it. I’m not that brave.
Lol good one, but oh so bad!
Thanks for the laugh! Happy to hear Google is giving you more attention. I wonder if rising to the top of an “artificial intelligence” search engine has anything to do with a warped sense of humor?
By the way: I really appreciated your post “Moms and Sons: Respect Is the Secret Sauce.” My twenty-three-year-old son appreciates it, too. He just doesn’t know it, since he doesn’t know I read it and payed attention!
Keep on sending us humor! Thanks!
P.S. My blog isn’t launched yet, but it’s headed to the rocket launching pad soon! Have a great weekend.
Right? This ranking is such a strange accomplishment. I have tagged it an #utterlyuselesswin. But good for a laugh! I can tell you’re a Lightly Frayed friend by the way you refer to your learning with your son. It’s never too early, and never too late to learn tips and tricks to strengthen our families. Even small pivots. Those are my favorite because they don’t overwhelm me. Please let me know when you hit launch on your rocket – I’ll be cheering!!
This is something I do too! My husband refers to it as “Jessie Humor”….and he likes to iterate how I use others mishaps for my comical entertainment 😂 glad to know I’m not alone on this!
Love it! You are definitely NOT alone in your Jessie Humor 😉
This is exactly my sense of humor. I remember one Friday me and my ex-wife and my step daughter and stepson went to pick up my step daughters friend Catherine or Cat for short because she loved cat’s for a sleepover, I asked her if she liked cats and she said yes, and my reply was ” good because that’s what we’re having for breakfast”. Well needless to say that in the morning when we had biscuits and gravy Catherine opted for a bowl of cereal even after explaining that it was just a joke.