By Eva Moskowitz/ As a parenting expert, I have spent decades working with parents and children. I am also a mother of three children.
Many parents pay a lot of attention to teaching their children to clean their rooms, behave responsibly and do their homework. These things are important, but there is one thing that many of us are completely forgetting: how to enjoy life.
Of course, this seems like something that children do naturally. But there is a difference between enjoying life as a young child and preparing to enjoy life as an adult.
Children can easily get the wrong message about happiness
In my experience, people are happiest when their lives include some kind of meaningful and productive activity. Unfortunately, we are constantly bombarded with the message that happiness comes from consumption.
Advertisers make us believe that buying things is the ultimate reward, that we'll only be happy if we buy a nicer car or a bigger house.
How to fight? Don't make a habit of taking your kids to stores where they can run around saying “I want this” and “I want that”.
Even if your child is not directly exposed to a lot of advertising, they may be exposed to the culture that advertising has created. Their friend shows them an incredible new toy they got that they will be playing with on the weekend.
The happiest children value experiences over material things
Don't encourage your child to believe that having things brings happiness by giving them lots of gifts.
The concept that you express your love for someone by giving them a gift is a nice idea that used to work pretty well, but so many kids get so much stuff these days that it quickly becomes redundant.
Play games with your children. Make a tree house or bake a cake to show the joy of a productive activity. Go to a museum to show them the joy of an intellectual activity.
If you can teach your children the value of these little things, their chances of happiness will increase immeasurably as they grow older.
