Professors of Happiness

Planning our children’s future is an important, even life-determining endeavor.  Most parents take that responsibility seriously.  We choose the best hospital to deliver the baby.  We research the best pre-school.  We choose the best neighborhood.  We fight to have our child assigned to the best teachers.  Early in their lives, we begin planning for their college experience.  We want the best for our children because we want them to have a happy life.

Yet, we sometimes forget that the most profound lessons on happiness are learned in their homes.  Children are like sponges.  By the time they are two years old, they are mimicking the words we speak.  They learn English, or Spanish, or Vietnamese because that’s the language of their family.  If parents are calm, happy, and peaceful, their children will learn that same language.  If parents are argumentative, angry, or distracted their children will learn that language.  Research shows that the best way to teach is through example.  No matter what you do or how you behave, your children are observing.  You are their most important Professors of Happiness.

Your family is your child’s first university.  What curriculum are you offering? Teach them the value of smiling.  Do you smile enough for no particular reason?  Do you offer them a smile in the morning and a hug to welcome them to the day?   Coming back together at the end of the workday or the school day is a cause for celebration.  Celebrate the wonder of them when you see their beautiful faces.  Give them your smile.  They will give you one back.  They will learn to give others the gift of their smiles.  Smiling 101 will help them sail through life with joy. 

You might want to offer a class in Deep Listening.  Looking at your child as they talk with you is a gift to them.  Stop what you are doing.  Look the child in the eye and listen to them with consciousness and curiosity.  Teach them the importance of being able to hear.  When they learn this skill, they will listen to you much better.  They will listen to others much better.  Listening is one of the best skills for happiness.

Smiling at and listening to others are skills that build happiness in any situation.  They are life skills that your child will carry with them in every situation.  Smiling and listening are the secrets to life.