When their children are happy, parents are happy as well. But it’s not so easy raising happy kids, especially when life can sometimes be challenging. Even parents go through many struggles and hurdles that can affect their parenthood. In this article, we’ll take a look at some ways parents can help raise happy children.
Be Happy
It’s hard to raise happy children when you’re not happy yourself. So the first step to raising happy children is a bit selfish: find happiness yourself. Your satisfaction matters a lot, and it will also significantly affect how you raise your children. Current research has discovered that parents who often feel sad and depressed tend to reflect it on their children. Their children tend to mirror this, often through “acting out” and “rebelling,” when they truly want peace and harmony as much as the parents. Many behavioral problems in children (especially teenagers) are influenced by their parents’ emotional state, making the parents’ happiness just as important.
But how can a parent be happy through the hustle and bustle of work and parenthood?
Simply, it’s getting everything sorted out for themselves and their children. If they’re in a separated situation, it’s best to talk to a divorce lawyer to sort out the custody issues with children to have something less to worry about. If they’re in a single-family unit, it’s best to talk to their partner for a setup where they can still partake in their hobbies and activities. It’s important to give time to oneself, regardless of the situation. It’s self-care, and if it ultimately leads to a happier parent, it will most likely lead to a happier child as well.
Understand Your Children’s Shyness
Kids can be shy, and it’s okay when they are. However, it’s important to recognize when it’s becoming a form of behavioral inhibition. It’s when their shyness and extreme caution are becoming more frequent enough to affect them during new experiences and situations. This might be the development of anxiety disorders, especially made worse by parents who tend to shelter their kids.
The question is, how can parents support their shy children? Of course, professional help will always go a long way, but making sure that they are given opportunities to go outside their comfort zone without being punished for mistakes will also help. Avoid forcing them into situations they don’t want to be in. Sometimes, shyness is a trait that doesn’t need drastic changes—parents just need to help their children build their confidence.
Give Your Children Undivided Attention
It may sound simple, but there are many ways in which we can miss out on valuable communication opportunities because of our distractedness or busyness, both at home and outside of it (for example, when walking around the park). In other words, listen carefully to what they have to say and then respond accordingly when they are done talking so that their feelings are not hurt, or they become frustrated by your lack of response to them at the time they spoke their piece to you. When a child feels heard and understood, it gives them the confidence they need to begin to communicate their thoughts and feelings more fully and openly in the future. This is important for all people who want to develop the skill of effective communication. Children usually learn how to effectively communicate by observing the behaviors of others around them, and that’s why parents always need to communicate with their children.
Let Them Learn From Mistakes and Celebrate Successes
The best way to improve your child’s self-esteem and raise them to be happy and confident isn’t to shower them with compliments but to provide them with learning opportunities to gain new skills. Skill and mastery are what develop confidence, not empty praises. There are many ways to help your children develop their abilities. Firstly, you can give them a real sense of the value of what they learn; secondly, you can use positive reinforcement in the form of praise when they have achieved something or done well at school. For example, you praise a child for making an excellent drawing rather than merely saying, “Good job!” Children will usually do better if they can see an improvement in their performance and progress rather than simply being told that everything is wonderful.
Children are impressionable creatures, and the way they grow up depends on their environment—both physical and emotional ones. When a parent is positive, supportive, and encouraging to their kid, it shows in many ways. Hopefully, the tips provided here can help you help them to become happier in life.
