If you’ve been online for long enough, you’ll know what Dad Jokes is. Besides being featured numerous times on Bored Panda, the page itself is a big hit online, currently having 4.4 million followers on Instagram alone.

The page has already posted over 6,400 memes and jokes on its Instagram, and the count keeps going up.

The page’s content is pretty much what you would expect—dad jokes. However, instead of the jokes that make people feel like they’re going to experience a heart attack, these ones are thought through and thought provoking. In fact, I’d wager the dad jokes this page throws out into the internet ether might just make your own dad proud, so go one-up your dad with these!

Well, despite mileage varying in terms of dad jokes—varying between absolute genius and your body disintegrating with the sound of the punchline, dad jokes have their benefits.

Even if the jokes aren’t funny, dads use them to lighten the mood and deepen their relationships with those they love.

Psychotherapist, clinical hypnotherapist, and counselor Eugenie Pepper reminisces about her dad’s jokes and now, as a professional, understands that it was just his way of connecting with her and the grandkids.

Considering also that her dad grew up with a strict dad, he himself wanted to shift the dynamic to be more humorous and cultivate an environment where things weren’t taken too seriously.

Dad humor can also be a bit of a lifesaver as a single joke can have the potential to turn an uncomfortable situation into a more relaxed one. Even if the joke tanks in the most epic of ways, those reacting with “here we go again” are still taking part in the bonding experience. And this in turn brings out the playfulness in the family.

Now, if a dad joke tickles your funny bone, there’s even more benefit to be had. You see, by laughing, we increase our feel good endorphins, thus reducing our stress levels and creating a more relaxed feeling inside. And this can even be a mood changer. Heck, it can even prolong your life. Talk about laughing so hard, the grim reaper can’t get in a word edgewise and waits for you to finish.

Now, you might think that all dads are proficient in dad jokes and immediately acquire this superpower upon the birth of their firstborn. While romantic, it’s actually a more boring process of learning the ropes along the way and then forgetting any other genre of humor exists at all, thus emotionally alienating your entire family forever.

But all jokes aside, you’d have to read a guide or two to learn the ropes.

In a nutshell, the purpose of a dad joke is to embarrass everyone around you—especially your own kids—to a degree that they would roll their eyes or walk away. If they come back with a heartfelt “I hate you” or any other iteration of the emotion, you’ve won.

There are several types of dad jokes, but all have the same objectives, so choose the one you enjoy and can master quickly and then roll with it.

There’s the situation dad joke, which is to take advantage of the perfect opportunity to strike a cringe comeback, there’s the pun dad joke which is all about wordplay that makes your ears bleed, and then there’s physical comedy dad jokes that’s all about nonverbal communication and bodily expression. And probably farts.

So, now that you’re all equipped to perform dad jokes, what will you start with? Share your best dad jokes in the comment section below!

And also consider checking out another one of our articles on the same topic to power up your arsenal of dad humor.