One Thing You Must Teach Your Children To Help Them Lead a Happier Life
There's a simple skill that you can teach your kids that will help them to be happy. It just takes a little awareness, thoughtfulness and effort, just a little more of the same stuff that you put into parenting every day. Maybe you already do this but if you don't please start now.
Life is arbitrary, we all know that, anything can happen at any time to thwart our ambitions or desires and it frequently does. Children are hungry for the world and everything in it, their desires are big. Parents are the gate-keepers, the ones who get to make the judgements about what is o.k and what is not. We have to stem the flow of candy bars into little mouths, hold back the tide of soda that threatens to flush our children into obesity. When you are saying no, that is the moment when you can pass on the lesson that will make all the difference down the road. Say NO with love and not with anger. Say "No, I know you want it very much. I understand I really do but I can't let you have it because I love you and.............." and give a good solid reason.
What do your children learn from this that is so valuable? They learn:
(a) That they cannot control the world with their feelings, a valuable lesson which once it has been learned will never be forgotten.
(b) That life is full of contradictions. Mommy, and/or Daddy loves me but they won't give me something that I want no matter how much I want it. But they still love me.
We can't protect our children from dissappointment but we can give them the skills they need to bounce back from it. If they know they are loved, they will have the confidence to try, try try again.