You’re Only Ever as Happy as Your Unhappiest Child
Last year, my twelve year old son went through a tough time at school. It happened in grade six, his final year at the tiny local primary he’d attended ever since he started prep… attended, that is, until we pulled him out in grade five, when our family decided to spend a year living in the north of Australia. Up until this time Declan had loved school, and was close to pretty much all the nine other boys in his year level, with whom he’d always shared a class...When we left everything was perfect, but when we returned everything had changed. Read full article
Don't Chase Your Happiness - Let it Land on You
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
Arun Abey - ANU Speech - Connection Between Happiness and Wealth
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
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
Is Pocket Money and Cable Television a Key to Your Child's Happiness? Research.
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
How Happy are You Compared with Your Country Average? A Test.
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
My Daughter Learns the Difference between Happiness and Cake
"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
Operation Smile - Creating a Smile on a Young Girl's Face
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
Happiness Comes in Small Packages with a Lizard
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
Want Less - Freedom for Children and Parents
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
