Our obsession with happiness is making our kids miserable
Admittedly, seeing that made me anything but. As a psychologist, I cant help but wonder: Who in this world has ever gotten happy because someone else told them they have to be?
And worse, what if our cultures incessant demands to be happy are actually making our kids miserable?
It seems counterintuitive, of course, but to be happy in the long run, we should more fully embrace the times when were not....
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/02/23/kids-happiness-emotions/
nycbos
(6,044 posts)SANTA ROSA, CAA study released by the California Parenting Institute Tuesday shows that every style of parenting inevitably causes children to grow into profoundly unhappy adults. "Our research suggests that while overprotective parenting ultimately produces adults unprepared to contend with life's difficulties, highly permissive parenting leads to feelings of bitterness and isolation throughout adulthood," lead researcher Daniel Porter said. "And, interestingly, we found that anything between those two extremes is equally damaging, always resulting in an adult who suffers from some debilitating combination of unpreparedness and isolation.
https://www.theonion.com/study-finds-every-style-of-parenting-produces-disturbed-1819573056?utm_content=Main&utm_campaign=SF&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2tEBP9WSsjqvAqMnruhyKeC-ZycXSH6rUcP-PQg2OyAd8eNy4OmCVvvrY
empedocles
(15,751 posts)We encourage our 5 yr old granddaughter to watch PBS's 'Arthur' for kids - which is about feelings, rather than the 'information' or 'happiness' that so much of entertainment concentrates on. Kids seem to be like sponges that absorb so much which is around them.
TheRealNorth
(9,500 posts)Its not enough to do your job, you have to be happy happy like a Disney princess while doing it.
Chainfire
(17,757 posts)I am nearly 70 years old, and only in the past couple of years have I allowed myself to be happy most of the time, but I still feel guilty about it.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,116 posts)my "dad" had not beaten me almost daily.
I'm sure there are still hundreds of thousands of children in the U.S. who still live with that fear. Why don't we worry about those kids and the ones who are still in cages. Yes, I am being extremely snarky, but being overly concerned about parents trying to "make" their kids happy doesn't seem like a national crisis.
janterry
(4,429 posts)teachers at my daughter's school have no idea how to build that (I've mentioned it). She's a senior - so I just let it go.
But we are certainly problematizing a whole generation (or two)