Tuesday, April 17, 2012

10 Tricks to Get Your Stoic Child to Smile

Is it difficult to get your child to smile on cue? Do you have tons of pictures of your child frowning or just not smiling at the camera? Maybe you are just trying to cheer them up and there’s no camera involved. Try these ten tricks to get your stoic child to smile.

  1. Tickle them: Most kids have a ticklish spot and no matter how stoic they are you should be able to get them laughing by tickling them. The trick is to tickle them and then have someone else take the picture.
  2. Surprise them: Often doing something spontaneous and out of character will get them to laugh or smile no matter how stoic your child is. The more stoic the child the more outlandish you might have to be to surprise them, but it should work.
  3. Play happy music: Music has a big effect on people’s mood. If you play sad music the happiest person will soon feel down in the mouth, but if you play happy music you are more likely to have a happier child that smiles more easily. Definitely avoid loud angry music. There’s something about happy uplifting music that will improve everyone’s mood not just the stoic child.
  4. Make a funny face: Some people do this better than others, but the more elastic your face the better. Pull it, stretch it, stick out your tongue and roll your eyes, but make a funny face and you should get at least a smile out of your child. Feel free to add sounds to your funny face. Pretend to be a pig and grunt or a bird and chirp.
  5. Sing a funny song: While there are many types of music that you can sing, funny music is by far the best to sing if you are going for a smile or laugh from a child. Check the Internet for kids’ songs because there are tons, complete with words that you and your child can sing. You can even sing songs about English or Math if you want to bring in learning to the mix, but if you are just going for a smile keep it silly.
  6. Dance with them: You can add dance moves to the funny songs that you sing and have even more fun with your child or you can put on some dance music and jump around and dance with your stoic child. The funnier the dance moves the better. A stoic child may feel fearful of looking silly, but you need to set the stage and make sure that you act silly together and don’t say anything negative.
  7. Bring out a cuddly animal: Who can be upset or serious when they have a fuzzy cuddly animal to play with. They are so adorable and lovable that most children will love to play with them and that will decrease their stress and increase your chances for a smile.
  8. Make farting noises: I know, it’s not the most mature of things to do, but sometimes you gotta do, what you gotta do. Kids love potty humor and there’s something about the farting sound that makes even the most serious adult crack a smile so hopefully it will work on your stoic child.
  9. Do a prat fall: You’ve seen comedians do them. The Three Stooges perfected the art of the prat fall, but you can do a good rendition of one. Pretend to be walking over to them and accidentally (on purpose) trip and fall down in a funny way. I don’t know why, but people usually laugh when others fall down. You’d think that would be the last thing you would do, but if it’s funny enough paired with a big noise or a funny sound then you should get a laugh.
  10. Do a spit take: This is another one that I’m sure you’ve seen on television. Someone takes a big drink of water, lemonade or other liquid and someone else says or does something really funny. The person with the mouth full of liquid starts laughing and spits whatever they were drinking all over the place. Okay, so this is not something you want to do in your formal living room with cherry Kool-Aid in your mouth, but you could do it outside with water in your mouth and be okay. It’s just funny and unexpected to see your mom or dad spitting water all over the place.

No matter how serious your child is, one of these ten things should make them at least crack a smile. Act silly, have fun, and be happy. Hopefully you will get your stoic child to crack. Good luck and go grab your camera!

Taken From Nanny

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