Parents put a lot of effort into raising children that society wants, and that the family wants, and at the same time, parents also struggle a lot to make their children emotionally healthy.
Currently, emphasis is placed on the need to raise happy children. The reason is that happy children grow up to be successful, as it is believed that these children see the best in everything, and thus this motivates them to always remain positive.
According to a recent report by the American network CNBC, two researchers in the field of happiness, Lori Santos, a professor of psychology and lecturer at Yale University, and Arthur Brooks, a professor at Harvard University, spoke about three important tips for raising happy children.
The link between happiness and well-being
Happiness is linked to better physical health outcomes, and happy children are more likely to participate in physical activities, maintain a healthy diet, and get enough sleep, which contributes to their overall well-being.
Happy children tend to have stronger and more positive relationships with peers, family members and adults.
They are also better at making friends, resolving conflicts, and communicating effectively.
Research suggests that happy children often perform better academically, because they have improved concentration, problem-solving skills, and a greater willingness to learn.
1- Anxiety and frustration are normal
Lori Santos says that feeling upset, sad or anxious is a concept that is difficult for adults to understand and difficult for children to explain.
Professor Santos adds that parents need to make their children understand that negative feelings are okay, and that there is nothing bad about feeling that way, noting that it is unfortunate that many children suffer from negativity in life earlier than others, but they should not This situation distracts them from being happy. Parents should also teach their children that negative feelings such as sadness, anxiety, and frustration are temporary and will disappear.
2. Not being afraid of adversity
In their attempt to prepare their children for the future, parents over-prepare their children by exposing them to adversity. Professor Arthur Brooks advises against teaching children to be afraid of the world, explaining: "The world is full of negative headlines - but if you try to prepare your children for every worst-case scenario, you risk scaring them. This will not keep them safe, and will make them anxious and less likely to succeed."
Professor Brooks suggests that "children should be prepared for the specific problems they are likely to encounter and have a realistic perception of the level of risk. Children can be taught to never accept an offer from a stranger for a ride home without making them afraid of all new people in every situation."
3. Do not underestimate threats
Professor Brooks points out that while over-preparing children for the worst doesn't help them, sugarcoating adversity doesn't help much either.
Speaking about his daughter's pessimism, Professor Brooks wrote in The Atlantic: “She told us about gloom and doom every evening over dinner, and my wife and I could see her growing pessimism. So we set out to deliberately counter the scary narrative. We didn't sugarcoat the threats; "We simply tried to be specific about the kind of behaviors we saw, and the ways in which we could make the world safer and more prosperous today than it was in the past. It was our way of sharing our true belief that most people are generally good and that things are getting better."
The spread of happiness contagion
Santos and Brooks agree on the importance of happiness within the family, explaining in simple terms that, “If parents are worried about how their child is doing all the time, the child will automatically transfer the anxiety to the child and start worrying about how they are doing.
Santos and Brooks advise that adults pay attention to regulating their emotions when it comes to their children. The likely conclusion is that happiness prevails within the family and that how older people respond to a situation is how children interpret happiness.