Level Three. Good for a Laugh.

Level Three. Good for a Laugh.

By Michelle Lloyd.

Laughter was an important part of R V’s life. He had first experienced what laughter could truly do a little while ago. It was impressive really, how laughter could break the tension and feelings of doubt. R V had been involved in a pretty routine family occurrence, fraught and a bit of a funny experience in equal measure, the row had been a small dispute gone wrong.

Dillon, R V’s baby brother had been in one of his wail on and off again moments. The wailing had first been because of a tossed aside toy which needed to be retrieved, then it was his bottle that he needed quite urgently and then he had decided that boredom had gotten the better of him. On each occasion mum or dad had tended to his needs but R V had also tried to be helpful. Only in the midst of Dillon wailing at the top of his lungs and mum and dad trying their outmost to keep him quiet, R V’s attempts to pile toys as high as he could totally accidently ended up blocking the lounge door, and in amongst all the chaos it did not go down too well.

Dad stepped back and without knowing about the toy skyscraper, he went crashing and bashing through the architectural masterpiece. The whole mass of precariously balanced  blocks, teddies and building bricks scattered around their feet and one even landed, quite spectacularly, in Dillon’s lap.

In the silence that followed dad’s unexpected trip, everybody looked at each other. Accusations and explanations started to fill the air and the voices started to rise in protest and alarm. It was the funny, hiccupping sound that got R V’s attention and then following on from this mum and dad looked at the source of the sound too…

Baby Dillon who had been in an extremely bad mood for most of the day was laughing at his dad’s unintentional antics and from his highchair and screams of delight filled the room. It was enough to set everybody off and before too long mum, dad and R V had joined in.

Dillon’s laughter had broken the bad feeling and the build up of distress. Laughter taught R V a valuable lesson that day and it was about how a little break from a situation or problem could give much-needed relief.