■ Play helps establish a desirable context for learning. If children enjoy—and feel good about
participating in—a playful experience, they are less likely to be resistant toward the poten-
tial learning from that experience, and more likely to be absorbed in the experience of that
playful interaction.
■ Play can heighten children’s awareness of their resources and competencies as well as help
them develop new skills they did not possess previously, thus better equipping them for their
journey through life.
Play, and its therapeutic benefits, has been the subject of many useful books over a long period
(Boik & Goodwin, 2000; Norton & Norton, 1997; O’Connor & Braverman, 1997; O’Connor &
Schaefer, 1994; Schaefer, 2003; Schaefer & Cangelosi, 2002; Schaefer & O’Connor, 1983). Using
play as metaphor (Linden, 2003a) has specific advantages in that it can facilitate many of the desired
goals in child and adolescent therapy. It is about pleasure, enjoyment, and joyfulness. It is an activity,
involving a child in the process of doing. It incorporates exploration, experimentation, and problem-
solving skills. It is a powerful process of learning and a necessary process of healthy growth. But here
my aim is not to give a thorough coverage of one topic so much as to provide a smorgasbord of the
various ways you can communicate, and enhance the communication of, healing stories for both
children and adolescents.
HUMOR AS METAPHORWhat are the jokes the children you know are telling? What humorous books are they reading? What
comedy shows do they watch on television? What commercials do they see as funny? Using humor,
jokes, and funny stories can quickly engage children and teenagers, communicating a powerful ther-
apeutic message in a seemingly light-hearted manner. This is because, as Yapko says, “Humor in-
volves reframing as the vehicle for the joke. The punch line inevitably causes us to look at the inci-
dents in the story differently” (2003, p. 736).
Developmentally, laughter is an early human activity, first revealing its presence around the age
of four months. Isn’t this interesting? The response to humor is there long before we develop the sense
of humor. From early in our development, we do not have to understand humor to be able to laugh.
Because it is a natural, built-in, feel-good emotion, employing humor and laughter in therapy not
only puts nature on our side but also serves some very pragmatic functions.
We have long thought that in situations such as bereavement and trauma it is common, and ap-
propriate, to experience emotions of sadness or anger. To many, laughter following the death of a
loved one may seem to indicate a lack of respect, or may even be considered pathological; but a Uni-
versity of California associate professor of psychology, Dacher Keltner, found from interviews with
mourners that people who could laugh or smile through their periods of grief made healthier long-
term adjustments than those who did not. Laughers experienced less anxiety and depression than
non-laughers two to four years after the bereavement. Instead of being pathological, laughter seems
to be a helpful and functional mechanism for coping with life’s difficult times (Wellner & Adox, 2002)
and thus one that is healthy to promote in children.
38 Effective Storytelling for Kids and Teens