The power of dad jokes: Research shows dad jokes empower kids to become better adults

A duck walks into a pharmacy and says, “Give me some lip balm! And put it on my bill.”

How about this one? “My neighbor gave me a new roof for free, he said it was on the house.”

If you laughed at that (which we doubt), you might be a dad.

And if you are a dad who laughed at that, you and your dad jokes may be doing society a real service.

A new study published by the British Psychological Society took a deep dive into dad jokes, and found that even though they’re cringey, dad jokes have the capacity to make us better humans.

Humor researcher Marc Hye-Knudson wrote that dad jokes are often derided as dumb, but it’s actually the opposite.

Part of what makes them funny is simply that they’re unfunny. The fact that they’re so unfunny is what actually makes us laugh.

This has two benefits researchers saw in kids.

One was that it shows them a father figure’s willingness to embarrass himself repeatedly. The second was that it subconsciously teaches kids to be alright with awkwardness and how to respond to it.

According to the researcher, kids continually exposed to eye-rolling humor build up a natural immunity to judgement and embarrassment, and become adults who feel empowered to be themselves.

Well, we used to think a broken drum was the best gift to give, since it can’t be beat.

Turns out, dad jokes may make the best gifts of all!