10 Ways To Help Your Child Become Happy According To Science

Childhood is a unique time in everyone’s life. A time full of discovery, play, wonder, and joy as a kid gets to know everything about the world around them. For the parents, though, this time brings happiness but also a sense of worry, as they're always seeking to ensure their child’s health and happiness.

Of course, many things might happen which can affect someone’s childhood years. Regardless of the situation, the kid’s happiness always comes first.

Below there are ten ways to help your child become happier, according to science. Whether you are a parent, soon-to-be parent, or just someone who loves children, we hope that what you read will provide some useful insight into raising up healthier and happier children.

1. Dedicate them plenty of play time.

The primary responsibility of raising children is – or at least, should be – to play together. Yes, your children will eventually have homework and extracurricular stuff; but from toddler to adolescence, you need to give them the freedom to have fun merely.

Peter Gray, a child psychologist, and professor at Boston College says that “children learn the most important lessons in life from other children, not from adults…they cannot learn, or are much are much less likely to learn, in interactions with adults.” Therefore, tell your kids to just “go outside and play!”

2. Take argument and heavy discussions somewhere else.

Children’s brains develop at an extraordinary rate when they are in their early childhood. When children see and hear about adult-like issues, and anxieties, their delicate psychological state might be negatively affected; potentially making them feel worried and insecure.

Children shouldn't hear stressful conversations from adults – it's most definitely not the right time.

3. Don't compare them to other kids.

The pressure to succeed in modern society can make it tempting to instill an early sense of competitiveness. Some adults do so by comparing their children to someone else. Sometimes, parents will also point out desirable personality traits in other kids.

According to researchers, such comparative tendencies can adversely affect a kid’s confidence and sense of self. Try to avoid comparing your kid to anyone else!

4. Teach them the benefits of negative emotions.

As children are not mature (obviously), they will often have spontaneous outbursts of anger, envy, sadness, and so on. These kinds of behavior present an excellent learning opportunity for the parent.

Dr. John Gottman at the University of Washington underlines the popular tendency of parents to address a kid’s perceived “misbehavior” – their negative feelings – by doling out some punishment. However, a better way is to acknowledge the behavior by teaching your kid that we all experience negative emotions, and we need to learn how to deal with them constructively.

5. Acknowledge their efforts.

Your children are going to reach the age when they know that they need to work hard to get ahead. That's why it's important to recognize when your kid pushes themselves to accomplish something.

According to Dr. Carol S. Dweck at Stanford, “our message to parents is to focus on the process the child engages in, such as trying hard or focusing on the task – what specific things they’re doing rather than ‘you’re so smart, you’re so good at this…what (the adult) does early matters.”

6. Value family time.

Having a variety of activities that a family does together is a positive sign of a happy household, as stability is a significant aspect of childhood development.

According to the Child Development Institute, having family time regularly induces five main benefits: the kids feel important and loved; they observe positive adult traits; adults also observe and learn more about their kids' weaknesses to guide them better; the children can verbalize their thoughts and emotions, and both parents and children develop a stronger bond.

7. Let them take chances.

Kids require a certain amount of supervision; however, adults can overdo it by monitoring their every single move. The “overparenting” is counterproductive to development.

An article published in the Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools writes: “Does an extreme attentiveness to a child and their imagined needs and issues, encourage parents to reduce their demands on their child, resulting in the child rarely facing adverse situations, learning to cope, and acquiring resilience, maturity, and other essential life skills? The current study raises the disturbing possibility that the answer is yes.”

8. Allow them to complete their responsibilities.

Expanding on the last point, it's important to allow kids to complete responsibilities (e.g., chores, their homework) without micromanaging them.

That's because, according to child psychologists, an excessive amount of oversight might manifest into the kids developing an “I can’t do this alone” attitude. Although some attention – and even, discipline – is necessary for kids to recognize the consequences of abdicating responsibility, on the other hand, inordinate supervision is ineffectual.

9. Make happy memories.

A multi-experiment study undertaken by two Harvard professors showed that adults who recalled happy childhood memories “(seemed) to summon a heightened sense of moral purity.”

Researchers note that the participants “were more likely to help the experimenters with an extra task, judge unethical behavior harshly and donate money to charity when they had actively remembered their childhood.” Therefore, in creating happy memories for the children, you might be preparing them to become happy and benevolent adults.

10. Be happy yourself!

Kids learn from what they see and listen to, for better or worse. If their parents exhibit positive behavior, the children are more likely to reciprocate. Carolyn Cowan, a psychologist at the University of California, says that “children do not fare well if the adults aren’t taking care of themselves and their relationships.”