Kids (and Old Men) Are Funny

I have been a kid and I think I was a funny kid.  I am a father with two grown children and my kids had some funny moments that we still laugh about as a family.  Each of us have retold the stories from our own perspective and we all laugh again.  Now I am a grandfather of five ranging in age from about sixteen months to almost thirteen years old.  My grandchildren are especially funny–in a good way.  We have lots of fun.

Photo: Jennie and I with our clan of beautiful grandchildren: Emily, Tyler, Audra, Lizzy, and Perri.

I think my grandchildren seem to be the funniest.  This is probably more perspective than reality because grandparents have the luxury of laughing with their grandchildren without the constant pressure of parenthood.  Grandparents usually think certain things are funny who would not have laughed at the situation in the role of parents.  Grandparents for sure are not as serious or strict as parents.

In my relationships with my grandchildren, I am a little goofier with them than I was with their parents.  I can be a goofball at times.  There are not too many bobby pins for me to pull to let my hair down.  As I have gotten older, I have no shame when it comes to playing with my grandchildren.  We laugh, act goofy together, and have a good time.  My grandkids have told me flat-out, “Papa, you’re funny!”  I wear it like a badge!

So maybe grandkids are funny because grandparents set the stage so they can be even more funny.

The world is a crazy place and sometimes a scary place.  Kids need a safe place to say funny things and do funny things.  That safe place is home; grandparents’ homes should be an extension and multiplied place of funniness.  Kids need to be kids in a home of love and laughter.

There will be enough things down the road to make them cry.  If they learn to laugh first, even if they have times of tears on their journey, they will remember to laugh.

“A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones” (Proverbs 17:22 NKJV).

Decades from now (I hope!) when my family gathers to say goodbye to the old man.  I hope someone can say that I loved Jesus and people.  I hope my family and others will laugh at something Papa said, or did, or both.

Yours on the Journey,

Harry L. Whitt