Creating humor is a fun thing to do
BOGOR, West Java (JP): What images are conjured up when someone says: "The frog and the princess?"
If you were brought up on fairy tales you would probably remember the story of a handsome prince who is turned into an ugly frog by a wicked witch, and who can only return to his human form if kissed by a beautiful, golden-haired princess.
It is a romantic story, not a funny one. So, people may also expect to read a romance when they pick up Prince Valentino, a children's book about a frog written by Burny Boss and illustrated by Hans de Beer (North-South Book, New York, 1994).
Once children begin turning the pages, however, they will probably howl with laughter, or at least raise a smile.
Because the book is about a really, really green young frog named Valentino who thinks he is a prince because that's what his mother calls him.
Valentino's friends often laugh at him because he is so stuck up, and because he is sure that somewhere, in a far-away castle, a beautiful princess is waiting for him.
When no one believes him, Valentino runs away from home to seek the castle and the princess ... only to find hundreds of other, more dashing frogs, all waiting to find and claim the princess.
A disappointed Valentino returns home, and eventually realizes that his real princess is the great stork that befriended him on his journey.
The story is not only amusing but it teaches humor.
It is an example of divergent thinking: those who hold "classical" view about the expression "a frog and a prince" were pleasantly surprised by the sudden switch in the story.
According to child development expert Elizabeth Hurlock, the creation of humor requires a knowledge of the kind of situation that others perceive as comic and a motivation to turn one's creative energies into channels that will result in humorous patterns.
Children with certain level of conceptual understanding may perceive any inaccurate depiction of the concept as being funny, Hurlock says.
When a child knows the socially approved roles for members of the two sexes, he regards any deviation from these roles as funny, and laugh at, for instance, a man with effeminate gestures or a tomboy girl.
Where do children learn about what people regard as funny? From observation of what people laugh at in real-life situations and partly from observation of people's reactions to comics in mass media.
For instance, a child observes that almost everyone laughs when a person slips and falls on a banana peel and they laugh even harder when the person is someone who is regarded as superior because of age or position.
Children also discover what makes people laugh from reading comics, from stories their parents, teachers or friends tell them, and from what they see in the movies or on television.
Forms
What are the common forms of humor?
Hurlock identifies them as punning, or play on words by twisting their meanings or pronunciations; caricature drawing; mimicking the speech, singing, mannerisms or actions of people or animals.
There are also jokes about taboo subjects such as sex, people in authority; slips of the tongue, which are often intentional; doing "silly things"; dressing up to look odd; clowning; horseplay; practical jokes to put others in predicament; and sarcasm.
How do parents instill a love of humor and ability to see and produce one?
The first is allowing children to try to think creatively, divergently. Parents can do this by encouraging them to seek the possibilities of creating other Prince Valentinos in the books or stories that they have heard.
Parents can also instill a love of humor by allowing ample "laugh-together" time, trading jokes and anecdotes, in the family. It is these occasions that children remember after they are all grown up, not the television movies that they watch day after day.
Parents need to still maintain a set of values, however. For instance, there should be clear rules against making fun or ridiculing others. Harmless jest, however, should be tolerated, and parents can give the best examples by also laughing at themselves.
This may not be easy, however, as many parents may find it easy to laugh at their children but become upset when the joke is turned on them.
If this is the case, then the parents would find it difficult to reach the goal of teaching their children a sense of humor because they fail to teach by setting example. (Soekanto S.A.)