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A baby’s giggle reveals a complex mind
And it is evolutionarily brilliant.
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While psychologists and parenting experts had extensively researched early skills like walking, language and attachment, humour was largely neglected, as if too frivolous for scientific attention.
PHOTO: AFP
Gina Mireault
My son was 14 weeks old when he made his first unmistakable whole-body belly laugh. In the months that followed, his laughter was accompanied by playful provocations – grabbing my hair and shrieking with delight, blowing mouthfuls of mashed bananas skyward and squealing when they landed on the floor.
These incidents signalled something more than laughter: An early sense of humour was emerging, initiated by him, months before the other milestones that parents await in the first year.
