How To Raise A Happy Child

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How you can raise happy children and improve your child’s mood by understanding a few simple concepts.

Do you wonder if raising kids to be happy and content makes a difference in their adult life? In my opinion, it sure does!

Children who have happier childhoods have less trauma and negative emotions to deal with in adulthood, and in many cases grow up to be more successful than those who have more complicated and less happy childhoods.

What Does It Mean By “Happy Child”

You might be thinking that all children are happy naturally, so why should a child’s happiness be a thing to consider when raising kids?

The point of this whole article is to show you that it is important for kids to be happy, and it is not guaranteed that you will raise a happy child by using the same techniques your parents may have used. There is some strategy involved to help your child feel long-term happiness.

As parents, we want to raise well-rounded little humans with as little mental health issues that grow up to be good contributors to society and have better relationships too.

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Raise Happy Children With These Simple Tips

Model Happiness

Ironically, the first step toward a happy childhood is a little selfish. How happy you are has a significant impact on how happy and successful your children are. Children of depressed parents are more likely to suffer from depression and emotional problems.

Extensive study has found a strong relationship between depressed moms and “poor outcomes” in their children, such as acting out and other behavioral issues.

This isn’t only due to genetics. Although the study discovered that happy parents are statistically more likely to have happy children, no genetic component was discovered. Childhood happiness is important in the development of social skills and making good friends too!

So, what is the first step in becoming a happy version of yourself? Spend some time each week having fun with friends, and making sure to take self-care into consideration on a daily basis. For me, that means staying off social media and doing small acts of kindness to my real life friends. Happy moms make for happy children.

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Create Strong Connections

Creating secure connections through quality time with your child is the next big secret to children’s happiness.

When children feel understood, wanted, acknowledged, they are happy because their emotional well-being and the need for connections are fulfilled. 

We all have a deep desire for connection, and it’s merely no different for children. 

Loving your child with your whole heart and being there for all those critical moments of their lives is what ultimately leads to a happier person.

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Help Your Child Develop an Attitude of Gratitude

Many individuals believe that they can’t feel grateful until they’re happy, or until they have something to be grateful for. However, if you look closely, you’ll notice that it’s the opposite: people are joyful because they are thankful.

Others who identify themselves as deliberately cultivating gratitude are deemed happy by those they know as well as by themselves. I like to use a gratitude journal for myself and with my children as well to foster gratitude in our daily lives.

Accept All Emotions

Life is full of joy, yet even the happiest person experiences loss and suffering on a daily basis, and we have reasons to grieve, feel small and sad. Recognizing our sad sentiments does not mean dwelling on the bad; rather, it means allowing ourselves to experience the entire gamut of human emotions. Accepting those unpleasant sad sensations really strengthens our potential to find joy in our life.

So choosing to be joyful does not imply suppressing our emotions during hard times. It entails acknowledging and honoring all of our feelings, as well as allowing ourselves to feel them. This helps us to move through the sensations and begin to dissolve them.

Teach Them How To Create Relationships That Are Good For Them

Nobody disagrees that learning about good relationships is essential — but how many parents take the time to educate their children on how to interact with others?

(Saying “Hey, knock it off” when children don’t get along doesn’t go far in developing important social connections nor does it help siblings get along.)

It doesn’t take much. It might begin by encouraging children to behavior little acts of kindness in order to develop empathy. This not only develops important skills and makes your children better individuals, but research indicates that it also makes them happy people in the long run.

Remember That You Can’t Force Happiness

I know you’re here to find out how to make children happy, and while there are plenty of things you can do to foster happiness in your child, you can’t force it. 

Creating a happy child isn’t about giving them material things and everything they desire in life. It is about being there to teach them how to survive in the real world, and that means letting them feel their feelings. 

My favorite parenting book of all time is “How To Talk So Kids Will Listen,” and the whole book focuses on allowing children to feel their emotions. 

Children have all kinds of feelings, and it can be challenging to understand those feelings and make sense of how to act on their beliefs. 

It is essential to encourage kids to feel their feelings and talk to you about them so they can learn to grow to adequately express their emotions in all of the various relationships they will encounter later in life.

Help Your Child Learn the Joy of Contribution

According to research, the pride of contributing to the development of society makes us happy, and it will also make our children happier.

It is our responsibility as parents to create methods for our children to make a positive impact in the world in a simple way so that they can enjoy and learn from this experience. So it’s worthwhile to consider family service activities and to demonstrate neighborly “helping out.”

And here’s a fantastic method to improve your own attitude while also helping others. While you and your child are strolling down the street, try radiating love at the people around you. Because you “send” love, you experience love, your mood transforms into an elevated, loving condition.

We are constantly communicating our emotions without even realizing it. Why not make it encouraging for people around us?

Celebrate Accomplishments Not Perfection

Relentless hammering on the accomplishment drum confuses children long term.

Parents who place too much emphasis on accomplishment and good grades are more likely to produce children with high levels of despair, anxiety, and substance misuse than other parents.

The research is clear: reward effort rather than innate talent.

Celebrate all the accomplishments from getting the ball into the net in a backyard game of basketball to getting a B on that science test that they worked so hard for.

Making sure to celebrate all the wins, big and small, will most definitely help raise a happy child.

When you celebrate accomplishments, it helps raise self-esteem, and high self-confidence and happiness are closely linked. 

When we celebrate accomplishments, we have to be careful not to overpraise our children. 

It is dangerous to overpraise children because if children feel that if they cannot succeed, they can fall off the pedestal, and the love from mom and dad will be gone forever. 

How can such a positive thing like praise, have such a negative effect on a child? 

Teach To Look To The Bright Side – Or The Silver Lining

Do you want to avoid interacting with a grumpy pre-teen? Then educate those pre-teens to be optimistic.

Ten-year-olds who are trained to perceive and interpret the world optimistically are half as likely to develop depression later in life.

Allow for Success and Failure

Just like raising a children’s self-esteem, raising a happy child entails focusing less on compliments and more on providing opportunities for growth.

Making sure to be careful not to do too much for your child and allowing them to learn and make mistakes on their own is a great way to foster that higher self-esteem and promote a child’s happiness. 

Children do need to struggle a little bit to master a new skill. 

Give Real Responsibilities

When we feel valued, we are happier, and the same goes for children. 

Providing opportunities for children to have responsibilities will help them feel like they are needed, and feel needed and valued even if it’s little things is what makes kids happy. These kinds of responsibilities can include chores or simply everyday tasks that help them take care of themselves.  

People, in general, want to feel needed, and the more you can help your child make family contributions starting at an early age, the more sense of self-worth and happiness your child will experience. 

Make Happiness A Habit

How do you assist children to develop long-term happy habits?

• Remove stimuli: Get distractions and temptations out of the way.
• Publicize It: Set goals to boost social support — and social pressure.
• One Goal At A Time: Having too many objectives can exhaust willpower, especially in children. Begin with one habit and work your way up to another.
• Maintain Your Focus: Don’t expect perfection right away. It takes some time. Relapses are unavoidable. That’s quite typical. Continue to reinforce.

Let Them Play

We hear a lot about mindfulness and meditation these days, and both are really beneficial to a child’s happiness.

Getting children’s to do things on a regular basis, on the other hand, can be difficult. What works almost as well?

More unstructured playtime.

Today’s children spend less time playing both indoors and outside… In all, children have lost eight hours per week of free, unstructured, and spontaneous play during the previous two decades.

There are no strict instructions required here: Make extra time for your children to go outside and play.

Taking family walks can help foster a healthy parent-child relationship which in turn helps create a happy attitude and overall successful children.

The Role Of Family Members

Family members play a crucial role in shaping the development of children. Hard work and dedication from parents and caregivers can go a long way in helping children grow into well-rounded, happy individuals.

Good news is that there are many different ways to support children’s growth and development, even when we may have little control over external factors. One of the best ways to raise happy children is to be a good role model yourself. By setting a good example, children can learn essential skills and develop good habits that will serve them well in life.

A child psychologist, Edward Hallowell, suggests in his new book “Raising Happiness” that family traditions and daily lessons can have a positive effect on children’s development. Another important aspect is providing enough sleep, good nutrition and fulfilling basic needs.

Encourage extracurricular activities and family activities where kids can learn new skills and have fun. Children are unique individuals, and they’ll find their own ways to be happy and fulfilled. Studies have shown that happiness levels in children can also be positively impacted by a good education and positive relationships with family and friends.

In today’s world, where children are constantly exposed to mobile phones and social media, it is important to teach them how to use technology in a positive way. Overall, raising happy children takes time and effort, but it is well worth the effort in the long run.

Secrets to Raising Happy Kids

Keep in mind that children do not have to be joyful all of the time. In reality, kids must also feel unpleasant emotions such as grief, anger, fear, and disappointment in their childhood years. ​

When your children are experiencing unpleasant feelings, there is no need to cheer them up or intervene. Instead, guide them through it and assist them in finding strategies to calm and manage with their emotions. ​

If they are not happy every minute of the day, it is not a reflection on your parenting and family life. It also does not mean they have emotional problems that you need to fix.

It is up to you to teach your children how to control their emotions in a healthy manner. ​

Finally, the most important thing for childhood happiness is to provide them with a caring atmosphere. Children who know they are loved and cared for are more likely to succeed in life, even when they experience adversity. ​