Mary Kay Morrison, Author, Humor Expert, Founder of Humor Quest, and former president of the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor, joins us on this episode of TGND.
Beginning her career as a kindergarten teacher, Mary Kay became fascinated with the research on how play was a critical factor in brain development, and enthusiastically integrated these brain-based play strategies in her curriculum. Stunned to realize that as a teacher, she was expected to spend a considerable amount of time preparing for state and federal tests with paper and pencil activities, Play was not recognized as an important part of the learning process. In a time where Cognitive research was relatively new, school curriculum was based on long-established traditional programs, Mary Kay delved into deep research and uncovering strategies to incorporate play to improve the learning process.
This lifelong love of learning and play has positively impacted people the world over, and as a parent and grandparent, has given her a unique perspective on how grandparents can make a significant impact on the lives of their grandchildren. Mary Kay joins us today to discuss her journey of humor, play, and the latest collaboration with her grandchildren in her forthcoming book, “Legacy of Laughter: A Grandparent Guide and Playbook”
Show Notes:
[00:05:05] The catalyst for learning about how play affect development
[00:14:11] How to cultivate creativity through laughter and play
[00:24:16] Advice on how to deal with the challenges of changing careers
[00:29:01] What a ‘humor-doomer’ is and how to deal with them
[00:40:18] The most surprising about the research, the application, and the people willing to use humor
[00:53:20] How to use humor to guide yourself and other out of the pandemic
Links:
Twitter: @marykaymorrison
https://www.questforhumor.com/
