Rather than find a moment to engage in a tickling game, I found myself hustling my kids from dinner to bed, racing against a buzzer signaling the end of my daily energy. Instead of reading funny books or singing silly songs, I was getting the kids ready for a gym class or soccer practice or just shushing them to keep the noise down. I was just too stressed and irritable to find much humor in my family life.

Then, one autumn night after a hectic workweek, we were having dinner with friends. We had eaten well, the kids had been playing beautifully, and we were finishing dessert. I noticed how much Benjamin, 6, and his buddy David chuckled at the way my younger son, Jacob, 3, secretly hoarded all the unclaimed cake from around the table. I couldn’t help laughing too, and this just sent the kids into more hysterics. And something about the dessert and feeling of seeing them so happy reminded me of a favorite Bill Cosby skit.

“Do you guys know the story of ‘Chocolate Cake’?” I asked.

“No! Tell it, Daddy, tell it!” Benjamin shouted.