What brings joy to you and your child?
The more we share joy with our children, the deeper and richer connection we make with them. Sharing joy triggers a host of significant physiological and psychological changes that improve our physical and mental health. Gail Smith shares some examples of what brings joy to your child.
It doesn’t take much for a child to feel joy. We can always help them feel that joy by our own actions. The more we share that joy the deeper and richer connection we make with our child. It also makes us very happy. It triggers a host of significant physiological and psychological changes that improves our physical and mental health.
Here are some examples of what brings joy to your child. Embrace it!
Seeing Your Child Laugh and Play Is Pure Joy
Watching your child burst into giggles while playing with their favourite toy or sharing a fun moment with friends at the park. Laugh with them. Feel the muscles move in your chest and enjoy the moment together.
Their Smile Brightens Up Your Day
When your child greets you with a big, toothy grin after school, or when they proudly show you a drawing they made. Notice how enlivening is their smile and how it makes you feel so much better.
Hearing Their Stories and Ideas Fills Your Heart with Joy
When your child excitedly tells you about their day at school, recounts a funny story, or shares their imaginative ideas for a new adventure.
Listen to what they have to say. There is so much joy in the way they express themselves and how they see the world.
Celebrating Milestones and Achievements Is a Source of Happiness
Witnessing your child take their first steps, reading their first book, or seeing them receive a certificate for a school accomplishment. With each milestone you know that your child is well on the way to being an independent individual. That should bring a smile to your face.
Quality Time Together Creates Special Memories and Joy
Enjoying a family game night, going on a nature hike, or having a cosy movie night complete with popcorn and snuggles. Find those special moments as a family. They don’t have to be large or complex. Make them spontaneous occasions where you can be together without any outside pressure. Build it into your week. Make it a family ritual that you get together and have some form of quality time.
Supporting Their Passions and Interests Brings Joy to Both of You
Encouraging your child's love for art by setting up a mini art studio at home or helping them explore their interest in science with exciting experiments.
Indulging your child’s passions will bring extreme pleasure and joy to your child. They will learn so much as they are keen to participate. Join them and learn from their excitement and joy. Its amazing how passions can become a life habit.
Our world is so much richer and calmer when there is a strong presence of joy in the world. Children are natural ‘joists’. They find joy in the simplest and least complicated aspects of life.
If you decide to join them you will lighten your world and build happy bridges with your child.
‘Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls”
- Mother Theresa
A happy child makes us all feel the joy of youth.
Read on for 5 basic needs to help your child feel content.
Here are five needs that a child once fulfilled will be content
Love and Support
A happy child needs love, care, and unwavering support from family and caregivers.Opportunities for Play and Exploration
Children thrive when they have ample opportunities for play and exploration in a safe and stimulating environment.Positive Reinforcement and Encouragement
Encouraging words, praise, and positive reinforcement contribute to a child's happiness and confidence.Healthy Relationships and Connection
Building healthy relationships and fostering strong connections with family and friends are crucial for a child's happiness.Sense of Security and Stability
A stable and secure environment provides the foundation for a child's happiness and well-being.
‘Never underestimate that your attention, respect, confidence and security given to your child are building a very happy person.’
Gail J Smith
The Art of being Happy
Our children deserve to be happy. By nature of being a child, they are keen to smile, feel happy and enjoy their early years filled with imagination and light. Sounds idealistic I appreciate. We also know how we have to keep them in the real world which at times can be a quick shock to be taken out of fantasy, creativity and imagination.
However, being happy around your children is a warm and delightful way to demonstrate that life can and should be happy. Some of us have more serious dispositions. Some are lighter and look for the enjoyment and lighter side of life. Therefore, all families will be different in how they present themselves to their children.
We do need to teach our children that happiness can be found in any moments of the day, across a lifetime. It should be clear what makes us happy and we should be looking optimistically for things that make us happy. Such a disposition is mentally healthy. It is all about how we feel inside and we all naturally want to feel healthy and happy inside ourselves.
If a classroom does not have a happy disposition, the children’s capacity to learn is down. They want to be around happy light-minded teachers as they feel reassured and valued. Such teachers give them reassurance that they can make mistakes as they learn.
When hiring teachers, I was always looking for those teachers who savoured life and had a happy disposition. I owed this to the children they would teach.
My job as Principal was to ensure that the pal was very obvious in the word, Principal. The more they saw you as a friendly, happy person, the more approachable you seemed to them and therefore the more relevant.
Consider the following concepts that you teach your child when you are happy in yourself.
Let’s teach our children that happiness can be found in any moments of the day, across a lifetime.
They want to imitate that sense of being happy. You’re modelling here is so important.
They see it as the right way to be rather than anxious and unsettled. This means that they are less inclined to gravitate around people who bring them down.
They seek out similar children who likewise enjoy being happy and avoid those that bring them down.
When they are happy, they likewise will attract similar personalities.
Children begin to condition themselves into wanting to feel good. It is a more satisfying feeling than being down and intense. This is a positive outcome from being happy.
They are developing into more interesting young adults when they seek out happiness. People notice warm hearted people.
As they build on happiness, they become more insightful people who see life as a great opportunity and a place in which to be.
“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.”