Recent research published in Journal of Experimental Child Psychology It has been suggested that mothers and fathers are just as good at making preschoolers laugh using similar playful strategies. However, this shared laughter tends to play a more central role in building a secure emotional bond between father and child. These findings provide evidence that pleasurable interactions are an important part of family relationships, although they may function differently for each parent.
Attachment theory explores how children form emotional bonds with their primary caregivers and feel safe and protected. Secure attachment provides a solid foundation that allows young children to confidently explore the world and take control of their emotions. Traditionally, scientists have focused on how parents respond to children who are in distress, such as when an infant cries or is frightened.
Because of this traditional emphasis on negative emotions, the scientific community knows little about how positive moments shape family relationships. Laughter is a powerful social tool that promotes intimacy, strengthens positive emotions between two people, and activates the brain’s reward centers.
“The motivation for this study was two-fold,” said study author Jean-François Bureau, professor and director of the Institute for Child-Adult Relations and the Environment at the University of Ottawa.
“First, most parenting interventions primarily focus on reducing ‘bad’ behavior. While this is important, it should not be the end goal of parenting support. Being a good parent is not just about avoiding harmful behaviors, but also about building positive relationships with your child and enjoying time together. So we wanted to explore this more positive side of parenting.”
“Second, there is an ongoing debate about mothers and fathers and their respective roles in raising children. Some believe that play acts such as telling jokes, playing rough, and making children laugh are primarily the domain of fathers. Our study aimed to find out whether this assumption is actually supported by evidence.”
Scientists chose to study preschoolers because this is a developmental period when they become more independent and communicative. During these years, fathers usually become more involved in daily life and devote most of their parenting time to active play. This makes the preschool period an ideal time to observe how interesting interactions affect family bonds and compare parents’ approaches.
To investigate these positive interactions, the researchers recruited a sample of 144 English- and French-speaking families with children ages 3 to 5. Each family included a mother, father, and preschool child. Families visited the lab on two separate occasions, about six months apart, allowing each child to interact with each parent individually.
During these visits, the scientists observed the pairs in a toy-free room and asked the parents to make their children laugh for two minutes. They then introduced the toy and went through standard separation and reunion procedures. This step involves the parent leaving the room briefly and returning. This helps scientists measure attachment security based on a child’s reactions.
To analyze this interaction, the research team developed a new observation tool to track both parents’ strategies and their children’s subsequent laughter. They reviewed past literature and pilot videos to identify a range of specific and entertaining actions adapted to the preschool age group. They then carefully recorded whether the behavior was physical, such as tickling, or visual and auditory, such as making strange faces or making strange noises.
The data suggests that mothers and fathers tend to rely on very similar techniques, which the researchers divided into two main categories. The first category included physical contact and expectations, such as chasing, tickling, or playfully picking up the child. The second category is about movement and sound and includes dancing, making funny faces, singing, and using nonsense words.
Both parents used these techniques with equal success and kept their children effectively entertained. This means that during the short observation period, the children laughed as much as their mothers as their fathers. Although success rates were very similar, the specific ways parents combined these strategies tended to differ slightly based on parenting style.
Mothers often incorporated nursery rhymes and songs along with specific body movements and facial expressions. The father frequently startled his children, playfully tried to break social rules, and perhaps suddenly made strange noises or called things by the wrong name. This approach tends to playfully destabilize the child within a safe environment.
Scientists have found that for fathers, using both physical contact and silly movements was often successful in producing laughter in their children. This laughter was positively associated with a stronger sense of attachment security between child and father, suggesting unique relational benefits.
Even for mothers, the skinship strategy was successful in making their children laugh. However, the amount children laughed was not directly linked to their overall attachment security with their mothers. Instead, mothers’ use of movement and sound, such as singing comforting nursery rhymes, was directly associated with higher attachment security. These familiar songs create a predictable routine that may promote a sense of safety, even if it doesn’t provoke explosive, destructive laughter.
“One of the key findings of our study is that mothers and fathers tend to use very similar techniques to make their children laugh, most commonly tickling and chasing, and that these techniques are equally successful for both parents,” Bureau told PsyPost.
“But we also found that making children laugh seems to be particularly associated with the quality of the father-child relationship. In other words, mothers and fathers are equally capable of making their children laugh, but these playful interactions may play a somewhat central role in the father-child relationship.”
Ultimately, these observations help dispel the common cultural stereotype that fathers are the primary source of entertainment and mothers take on a strictly serious caregiving role. Data shows that mothers can be just as playful and create fun and enjoyable interactions with their children.
Still, the scientists acknowledge that their study has some limitations that require further investigation. The families who participated in this study were generally highly educated and from low socio-economic risk backgrounds, so the results may not apply to populations with different life circumstances. Furthermore, because cultural norms regarding play and humor vary widely, parents from different cultural backgrounds may use completely different strategies to entertain their children.
The laboratory setting itself has its limitations, as asking parents to follow commands and make their children laugh without the use of toys is an artificial scenario. It may not fully reflect the natural interactions between parents and children in daily life. In the future, researchers hope to observe how families spontaneously create humorous and playful moments at home.
Because this study assessed families at one point in their lives, it cannot prove that laughing directly leads to safer relationships. Future research will need to follow families over longer periods of time to see exactly how these happy moments affect children’s emotional development as they grow older. Understanding these dynamics may ultimately highlight the far-reaching developmental benefits of daily playfulness in raising confident, healthy children.
“There is still very little research examining children’s humor and how parents contribute to it,” Bulow said. “Our study should therefore be seen as a first step in asking new questions for future research. For example, an important next step would be to investigate how parents spontaneously create playful and humorous interactions with their children during daily life at home.”
“More broadly, in an era of increased screen time for both children and parents, it is especially important to emphasize the value of play and laughter. These playful moments may seem simple, but they can meaningfully contribute to the quality of the parent-child relationship and positive developmental outcomes for children.”
The study, “How Fathers and Mothers Make Their Children Laugh: Associations with the Security of Parent-Child Attachment Relationships,” was authored by Sabrina Schmiedel, Jean-François Bülow, Jessica Turgeon, Audrey Anne Donault, and Ariane J. Gauthier.
