When Do Kids Start Understanding Jokes?

Let the world teach her this lesson is the road I have taken with my son. I think humor is something you both learn (like the art of joke telling) and something you are born with ... you can try to help her understand why it's funny and why it's not funny, but I do not think there is an age when this magically happens.

I can laugh at a joke, I am funny in the things that I do or ways that I tell a story that is funny (or so I am told) but I can not tell a joke - at all - ever.

I think she's doing great! Seriously.....she's trying & that's the most important part of this process.

She's playing with the words and not so much yet with the ideas behind them but that will come soon.
Think of it as an emerging language skill.

Many kids go through a joke phase.
Our son was starting to play with tongue twisters at 4, understanding some jokes by 5 and by 7 he was really enjoying puns.
His teachers often said that they'd joke with the class but a lot of it went over their heads while our son was laughing at the punch line.
Try getting her an age appropriate joke book.
Joke back and forth with her.
It's fun to see how their sense of humor develops.

Our son still enjoys cow jokes.

Where do cows go on a Friday night?
To the Moo-vies!

Where do cows go on Saturday?
To an a-moos-ment park!

Where do cows go on Sunday?
A Moo-seum!

What shows do cows watch on Broadway?
They like Moo-sicals!

It varies. But she is still a little young. It will come with time.

I always hated those jokes that weren't funny when mine were doing that. These days, they come up with some funny stuff that has me unable to breathe sometimes.

Don't sweat it. You could talk her through them once in a while, if she doesn't understand why one is funny and one isn't. Like, compare the "karate chop" punch line with the "cake chop" punch line and see if she can figure out what makes one work and one not. If she doesn't figure it out on her own, explain it to her. But keep it fun!

My kids crack themselves up laughing about the jokes a family friend's daughter told at a pizza parlor one time. She was about 4, so it was not even a joke, but the other kids were telling jokes and she joined in. There was nothing whatsoever funny about it, but she followed the "form" the other kids were using. They all laughed hysterically after a pause.. but not b/c the joke was funny. Because it was so ridiculous. I don't think she realized of course. They still "re-tell" her "joke" and laugh until they cry. It will forever be a classic in our house.

You should write these jokes of your daughter's down (or have her make a joke book in a notebook) and keep them for one day when she is older.

I think the smarter they are the more they try to tell jokes but they come out just like that! They try to analize it too much.

It's ok to just give a weak, ha! Don't tell her that her jokes aren't funny. She will get better at it and never realize she wasn't funny.

Give it another year or two of fake smiles! You won't die.

A cake chop!! Haha, I am actually laughing at that! Long day....

I agree with below posts, get her a joke book. But also - make it a learning experience. Sit with her and discuss why each joke is funny. (She might know what pork is, but does she honestly know what a "pork chop" is? Maybe that sounds about as realistic to her as a "cake chop".)

I remember a joke I saw in a children's joke book when I was little...took me until well into my adult years to get it. The joke is: "How do you get down off a horse? You don't...you get down off a goose!!"

WTH?! Well, as a young child I obviously didn't know what "goose down" was! (What kid knows about "goose down", really...unless they study pillows as a hobby.....)

Point is - next time she hears a "real" joke, talk to her about why it is funny!

ETA: I just remembered another point in favor of explaining jokes - when I was about 6 I heard a dirty joke on a radio show and I repeated it. More than once. I didn't get it, and I didn't understand that it was dirty. I just knew that everyone on the radio thought it was hilarious. (Involved a woman who happily had the imprint of a man's belt buckle on her forehead. I had no idea what the woman might have done to cause that to occur, but I - as a 6-year-old young lady - sure was proud to repeat that "real joke".)

My youngest is like that, she just isn't funny, I love her but she is not going to make a living as a comedian. My older two could easily make it as comedians and have had that ability since they were around four.

Some kids are just not going to be comedians, nothing wrong with that. For me it was just best to point it out to Genna, just memorize jokes, don't try to think them up, they are not laughing with you they are laughing at you. Sure it made her feel bad but it is better than having kids laughing at her which would have ended up making her feel worse.

Get her an easy-to-read book of jokes. Bennet Cerf did one years ago under the Dr Seuss Beginning Reader imprint. The jokes are simple and silly.

As for 'when will they get it',,,who knows? I think jokes are cognitively a very tricky thing because kids don't understand the 'why' they are funny part yet. My son is six and you will hear regularly
Knock knock/who's there/ Justin/Justin who?/ JUSTIN BIEBER!
He thinks this is the king of jokes, by the way, laughs and laughs.

(oh, and we don't like Justin, either. who knows?)

It depends on the kid...some kids get things at that age...most don't...don't worry, they usually figure everything out by 4th-5th grade.

4 or 5
Purchase joke books..they will save your sanity..

Santa always had a Joke Book as a gift or stocking stuffer for our child..

like books, jokes have different levels of sophistication that grow and change as a child does. your daughter is in a cool phase of figuring that out. fortunately she has a friend who is giving her honest feedback. that's how kids learn.
are you fake laughing when she tells a bad joke? if so, knock it off.
khairete
S.

I think it's cute! Don't try to fix it.

Usually they start to really understand more sophisticated humor in high school.

My 5 year old son has a great sense of humor. He gets humor and is so funny himself, but he can not tell a joke. The ones he tells make no sense and I wasn't sure how to handle it either. I tried being gentle because I wasn't going to laugh and encourage jokes that are not funny and make no sense when this is clearly not a strength. Don't worry about it, stories are waaaay more funny that puns anyway.

My 13 year old still tells jokes like that. Get used to it.

At around 2.5, my kid started telling his version of jokes. They go like this,

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,lucky, 9, 10.
No, Lucky's not a number. (rolls on the floor with laughter)
Lucky's a dog. No, no, no, Lucky is a cow. Lucky says MOOOOO (rolls on the floor with laughter.

He also has fun with other categories- big/small, edible/inedible, and others.
Mama, you sit in the car seat. OK? That's right, you sit in the car seat. You are not too big. No, no, no, no. Mama you are too big. Too big for the car seat (rolls on the floor with laughter). Airplanes, airplanes should sit in the car seat. ok? no, no, no, no. Airplanes are too big. (rolls on the floor with laughter).

He finds them hilarious. We enjoy that he is having fun with language and internalizing rules, but funny? no, not yet.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

My son turned 5 in May and he's a regular ham (in his own mind! lol). He comes up with similar jokes on his own, too. What I did for my daughters was get them a book. It was called something like "Silly jokes and riddles". They weren't great at reading at the time, but I would read a few of them, and that would at least give them "fresh material" to make up new ones on their own. This way, we weren't asked the same knock knock jokes over and over and over and.. well, you get it! :D

She'll get the hang of it with time. My girls did. I think this is totally fine and part of her personal growth. If her friend telling her these things doesn't bother her, I wouldn't worry much. If you overhear that, maybe you can say something like, Hey, I bet Daddy (or whoever) would love that joke! Try not to forget it".. that way, there's a little encouragement to cover the truth the friend deals out.

Enjoy those jokes and write some down to share with her when she's in her teens and is so serious all the time! lol

They understand jokes about 2 years after they start telling them. If then.