It was a little difficult for me to compose a blogpost mainly about happiness because I don’t believe in chasing it. This might seem ironic coming from the publisher of a website called happychild. But happiness is just one of many rich feelings that give me, and I think most people, a feeling of humanity and a sense of living a full and meaningful life. When happiness is absent in our daily lives or is fleeting, that’s a sign that something is more seriously wrong – and it’s the time to get support from experts, not the time to chase happiness. Because if you run after happiness you may never catch it. Read full article
Some decades ago, I sat where you are sitting, waiting to get my degree. It was one the greatest days of my life. I had many happy years on the campus, but was looking forward to excellent job prospects, with Economics and Arts degrees from the ANU. Like most of you, I had little money of my own, and from high school I had spent many hours working in supermarkets to help pay my way ... It is natural for graduates and their very proud but also long suffering parents to be sitting here and thinking "Great, I am now going to try and get a well-paying job, secure myself financially, and that will be the key to being happy." I want to share with you a radical thought: Based on my experience, as well as the latest behavioural research, you should, in fact, be thinking about the opposite. Read full article
Authentic Happiness is the first book to examine the mechanisms by which mentally healthy people become happy, and how happy people become very happy. Martin E. Seligman is the international leader of the Positive Psychology Movement. His first trade book, the international bestseller Learned Optimism greatly influenced the way people thought about mental health by bringing the concepts of cognitive psychology to a mass audience. Read full article
It will sound like a pun but I just don't "buy" this - well not all of it. I love to read research about children's wellbeing and think about its practical application. So headlines about this new UK research caught my eye. For example this one: "Must-have possessions that make a child happy: Why the best things in life aren't always free" ... Researchers for the Children's Society in the UK* surveyed 5500 children about their levels of happiness (also called 'subjective wellbeing') and their access to material goods ... Read full article
I had to share this - it's very quick and a bit interesting to compare your results with the rest of your country. A happiness test on Scientific American called "How Happy Are You?" with a table for you to see how your happiness compares with other people in your country and the rest of the world.Positive and negative feelings are measured. I share my results with you too. How did you go and what country are you from? Read full article
"Mummy, I’m sad,’" my three-year-old said to me. "What’s making you feel sad?’" I sat down next to her and asked. ‘Ummm,’ she said, and I could see the confusion in her eyes as she tried to find the words to answer. Despite her knowledge of hundreds of words, and her almost constant state of conversation, you realise how limited a child’s speech is in moments like these ... Happiness is the current obsession with my daughter ... Read full article
This video was shared on Twitter by a lovely friend who, like me, was moved by the moving reaction of a young Brazilian girl after a cleft palate operation. Watch her face when she sees herself in the camera towards the end - it's perfect slice of happiness. Operation Smile is a charity organisation that heals children's smiles - they measure themselves by the joy they see on faces. Read full article
Possibly the shortest blog post I have ever written. I just had to share this picture of a two dollar item that our nine year old was coveting a few weeks ago. A gecko (lizard) in a tyre, holding a flower. What more could you want? Read full article
I went to the supermarket the other week with two kids in tow. Mostly I try to do the grocery shopping by myself. Not just because I don’t want to manage toilet breaks, hunger pangs and trolley rage – yes, that’s the kids I’m talking about, not me – but because I really quite enjoy supermarkets. I get a kick out of doing per-gram price comparisons, and speculating whether the tin with the redder tomatoes on the label is really likely to deliver the goods. Tragic, I know. Read full article
Tal Ben Shahar, expert on positive psychology and best selling author of Happier and Being Happy shares 5 simple but powerful ideas in this quick video about ways to be happier right now. These ideas can be shared with your children and also included in your everyday parenting approaches. Inspiring. Read full article
