Image: Flickr/Kim McIntyre

“Gentlemen, why don’t you laugh? With the fearful strain that is upon me night and day, if I did not laugh, I should die.” (Abraham Lincoln)

Family life is serious business. There are diapers to change and homework to be done and dinner to be made and dishes to be washed and laundry to be folded and romance to be maintained and bills to be paid and scrapes to bandage. Talk about a “fearful strain”! Maintaining a healthy family life is a very heavy load.

But it can also be an endless source of laughter. You just have to look in the right places. If you’ll give yourself freedom to enjoy yourself along this journey, you’ll learn one of the most valuable lessons imaginable: Life can be fun!

So, when the diaper explodes, instead of getting angry, laugh and be glad that it’s you changing your child’s diaper and not the other way around. When dinner burns because you’re busy trying to chase the dog back into the house, laugh and order a pizza. By being flexible and finding the fun in things, your family will be in a much better place to handle anything that comes your way.