I think we can all agree that laughter provides a strong antidote for a dreary or overwhelming moment; it can feel like turning a light on in a dark room. In fact, when things feel bleak or out of my control, sometimes I prefer a good laugh to a good cry. Also, I may be one of those folks who laughs at inopportune times because the pent up emotion finds an easier release in those uncontrollable giggles than in streaming tears. But even more than laughter evoked from a well-timed joke, I adore a well-placed, well-played play on words. Yes, I am referring to the art of the pun. And this is easily one of the things I love about my teenagers (and, I like to think I may have had something to do with, being a wordsmithing wordplayer from way back).
For as long as they have been able to understand the complexities of the English language, I am fairly certain my girls have been speakers of puns; truly, puns simply roll off their tongues without effort. Their wordplays and quips tend to favor their strengths, which is pretty impressive. For example, my oldest leans into her vast knowledge library of 1980s rock music and hair metal song lyrics and musicians in order to pull off a fitting and timely double entendre. Her sister, on the other hand, has a quick-witted sarcasm that can pull double meanings seemingly from thin air.
To say they keep things light is an accurate reflection of the ebb and flow of our unschooling days. Whether it’s a pun based around a historical figure or moment or a well-timed witticism around a math concept or scientific discovery, I am often duly impressed not only with their understanding of the given subject, but with their ability to tie that subject to a humorous and often well-placed pun.
Perhaps it is not only their punning ability.
I think it is as much their unmatched ability to create immediate associations around everyday conversations or a passage in a book they’re reading for fun or part of an unschooling lesson. Their minds are sharp and quick and the ways they link things together, whether with a pun or a seemingly obscure reference to a song lyric or event we read about last week or some amusing observation in the moment, I am consistently impressed with the ways their minds work to make connections.
Perhaps their humor and use of wordplay is only a skimming of the surface of their neurodivergent learning styles. I can’t say for sure. But what I am beyond certain about is they have a flair for taking the obscure details and the seemingly outlying features of any given topic and bringing them into clearer focus in light of intriguing word associations and less obvious, even supposed incongruous, relationships. In other words, they see the world from a novel perspective.
And honestly, I think this strength has grown and developed since they each left their charter school and came home for their schooling. I have nothing against public education. That said, I have witnessed some much-needed healing from not being seen, heard, or supported according to their neurodivergent needs; even more, I have watched them rediscover an affinity for learning and redefine their curiosity on their own terms. Some of those terms include witty wordplay and other language-based punniness. And that really does light up every day, dreary and overwhelming, sunny and buoying, or anything in between, because at its core, their complexity and turns of phrases reveal their awesomeness, and that is no joke.