My kid told a joke at dinner that made me realize I've been doing deep talks all wrong
Last Tuesday my 7 year old dropped a joke about a scarecrow winning an award because he was outstanding in his field. I laughed way harder than the joke deserved, and then my wife pointed out I've been using jokes as a shield during our serious talks for years now. So here's the debate I want to settle: is it better to open a hard talk with something silly to break the ice, or does that just teach your family to dodge real feelings with humor? I counted it out and 4 of our last 5 big talks started with me cracking a joke first. My brother swears his family never jokes before heavy stuff and they get straight to it, but they also barely talk at all. Which side are you on, do you warm up with a laugh or go straight to the hard part?