It’s no doubt the #1 response parents make when they ask what they want for their kids in life: “I just want my child to be happy.”
“I just want my child to be happy.”
We mean it wholeheartedly when we say it. Then we leave that happiness to chance.
We talk to our kids about their feelings, if they are sad or fearful or angry or anxious but we rarely help them to cultivate happiness because it’s not something we were taught to do ourselves. We were taught that ‘happy’ is something that you are, not something that you do.
We were taught that ‘happy’ is something that you are, not something that you do.
Happiness is, in fact, something you create. It’s a skill that can be cultivated and the earlier we teach our kids that skill, the sooner happiness, resilience, optimism, productivity and contentment become a habit.
We can set them up for a positive life.
You are not responsible for your child’s happiness
Our scientific understanding of what contributes to human happiness has exploded over the past 20 years. We know that happiness is much more than simply ‘feeling good’. Contentment, connection with others, feeling capable and in control and bouncing back when things go wrong are important components. A sense of meaning and purpose in life is vital too.
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We might all say, “I just want my child to be happy”, but parents are not responsible for kids’ happiness. They have to work that out for themselves. You can, however, create the conditions within your family that allow them to explore, test, fail, feel, grow, flourish and find their happy.
Start with a conversation
Talking to your kids about happiness is a great place to start. You can start thinking about and discussing happiness as a skill as soon as you have children (or before). It’s a mindset that we develop ourselves in order to model it for our kids.
When we talk to our kids about happiness, the conversation is really about:
• Taking care of ourselves and others
• The things we love to do
• What we are good at
• Our relationships
• How we manage tough times
• Our hopes and dreams for the future.
For primary school years
Talk to primary-aged kids about what they enjoy doing and what gives them energy – these are their strengths. Encourage them to explore and use their unique strengths and celebrate these with them to develop their confidence and self-belief. Using our strengths regularly is linked to happiness and well being.
Conversations about feelings are also helpful at this age. Talk to them about positive feelings and give them words to name their feelings. Explore joy, curiosity, hope, relief, love, satisfaction, pride and awe. Notice the micro moments in which these emotions arise. Point them out and savour them together.
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For teens
The teen years can be filled with harsh self-judgement as kids become more self-aware and self-conscious. Talking to your teen about being kind to himself develops the skill of self-compassion – a skill associated with mental health and resilience.
Remind him that our teen years are tough, that everyone struggles at times and that he should speak to himself kindly, as he would a friend. This is not ‘letting himself off the hook’ but rather providing him with a source of empowerment, learning and inner strength. We grow when we give ourselves permission to learn from our challenges, not when we berate ourselves for failure.
Focus on what’s right
Parenting is a tough gig. We set ourselves high expectations to grow our young people into happy and successful adults. Often this results in us fixing on faults and failure as we seek to make them whole, perhaps more than we can be ourselves.
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But a focus on what’s lacking leads to conversations tinged with fear and negativity, criticism and frustration. It sets the tone for a combative and difficult family environment.
When we flip our focus to happiness, we open our hearts and minds to possibility. We help our kids to see more, do more and be more. Simple, every day discussions about what makes us happy and well creates a vibe of acceptance, encouragement and joy. It helps us create a home in which we can all thrive and flourish – and that’s worth talking about.
Are you guilty of saying “I just want my child to be happy” too?
Feature image by Caju Gomes; wheat by Quan Nguyen