zealousness 4 Zealousness Fourth Edition Winter & Spring 2017 | Page 42

STRESS REDUCTION TIPS Take a time-out. ... Eat well-balanced meals. ... Get enough sleep. ... Exercise daily... Take deep breaths... Count to 10 slowly... Maintain a positive attitude... rate professors who make learning fun significantly higher than others (American School of Laughter Yoga, Using laughter to increase student motivation. pdf by www.ascis.org). for Parents: One of the papers published by Dr. Michael G. Lo- vern, Assistant Professor in Education Department, stresses that parents may employ laughter as a study strategy when assisting children with homework, and in doing so, positively affect the healthy maintenance of parent/child relationships. The use of humor in this situation not only benefits the studying child, but it may be good for the parent as well. After a long day at work, many parents are simply too tired to come home to a sixth grade history lesson. In this case, the use of humor can diffuse frustrations that might surface. Such one-on-one time is very fulfilling for children and often ends with smiles and a real sense of accomplishment (Nelson, 1989). Parents can use a wide variety of creatively humorous approaches, including rhymes, chants, riddles, jokes, anecdotes, games and even self-effacing commentary, to make valuable connections and enhance learning. Lovern in his paper explains this through a beautiful exam- ple. Say, for instance, a child is sitting at the kitchen table staring haplessly at page after page of her six- th grade social studies book. Her father is helping her study in preparation for a test on the origins of civilization in Southwest Asia and the Ancient Bab- ylonian Empire. They are discussing the material and are reading about people of the region and places such as Sumer, Tigris, Euphrates, Mesopotamia, Ha- mmurabi, and ziggurats, among other things. These are new words/concepts for the child, and Dad can- not remember when he last studied about them. This could easily be a recipe for frustration and could cau- se considerable exhaustion and impatience on both their parts. As they discuss the meaning of each term or concept, Dad decides to share with her a few silly statements and rhymes. Here are a couple of exam- ples: In order to reinforce an understanding of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and the location of Me- sopotamia, he says: “You afraid o’ these tigers? They make a mess of potamia!” In order to draw a mental picture of a ziggurat, he says: “If the top is flat and the bottom is fat, there’s a really good chance it’s a ziggurat!” These silly statements and rhymes, in and of themsel- ves, might seem senseless or distracting, but when combined with the basic knowledge derived from the textbook, they may introduce laughter and enjoyment, not to mention effectiveness to the learning process. Conclusion It is well said “laughter is contagious and is the shor- test distance between two people.” You can live your life healthily if you “laugh out loud.” In this way, pa- rents and teachers can promote fun interaction, build great trust, promote their thinking and creative skills, and boost confidence among children and students 42 | ZEALOUSNESS MAGAZINE | Winter / Spring 2017