My Dog Can Count

My dog can count.

I asked him what 2 plus 2 makes.

He said nothing.

I wanted to write a blog about fathers for Father’s Day, something relevant, and timely but not if at all possible, pedantic. Which as any of you familiar with my writing will know is not easy for me to avoid.

And then it fell into my lap, an article in the Washington Post celebrating the Dad Joke. You know the genre of joke. So maligned but a survivor of trend and social change, deaf to the judgment of each generation, finding a safe place in the drawer we stuff our childhood memories in. And there’s a reason for that. Dad Jokes are funny. And they make us laugh. And laughing is good.

I was wondering why the frisbee was getting closer and closer.

Then it hit me.

Funny.

Two thieves stole a calendar.

They each got six months.

C’mon, give me a break. That is funny. Comedy gold. But it turns out it is more than that. Much more.

Steven Sultinoff is a clinical psychologist at California’s Pepperdine University and the past president of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humour, an organization promoting humour as therapy. He says Dad Jokes strengthen the bond between a father and his children in much the same way as playing peekaboo does for babies and a mother.

No kidding. We all know that. As soon as it is said, we nod our heads because it aligns with our own experience as children and then as parents. And there’s more. Sultanoff says that children who grow up with Dad Jokes enjoy levels of kindness, playfulness and creativity that others don’t.

Why did the scarecrow win an award?

He was outstanding in his field.

Add all this to what we also know about laughter. You know, laughter is the best medicine. It actually enhances physical and mental well-being. It begins in infancy when it helps develop muscles and upper body strength, activating multiple regions of the brain. And all the mumbo jumbo aside we know laughter feels good. It improves mood and emotional bonds and relieves stress.

So here’s my fathers’s day message. Back off on Dad Jokes. No, don’t just back off. Embrace Dad Jokes. There’s a million of ’em.

I’m afraid for the calendar.

Its days are numbered.

But that’s not the case for Dad Jokes. They are here to stay.

I have to go now. My wife is calling me upstairs.

I don’t trust stairs.

They’re always up to something.

Happy Father’s Day.