“In my opinion, one of the best things that can happen to you in your life is to have a happy childhood.” – Agatha Christie

Childhood memories take special place of our hearts. It’s the time when you discover new things daily, a time of wonder and amusement. The parents, however, may feel worried, since they want to make sure that the child is happy and healthy.

Certainly, life happens for both parents and children and this can greatly affect the childhood years. No matter what, the happiness of the child always comes first to most of the parents.

In this article we’ve mixed childhood happiness with scientific researches. In particular, we are going to talk about 10 scientifically proven advices that will help you ensure a healthy and happy childhood.

This article is aimed to all of you who are parents or only love children. We really hope that what you read below will give you some good insight into providing children happy and healthy childhood.

IT IS SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN THAT THE FOLLOWING THINGS WILL MAKE YOUR LITTLE ONE  THE MOST HAPPY CHILD ON THE WORLD:

PROVIDE THEM WITH PLENTY OF PLAY TIME

The main responsibility for a child is, and should be – playing. The time when the child will have homework and million other responsibilities connected to school will eventually come, but we have to allow them to play freely and have fun from toddlers to adolescents.

According to a child psychologist and a professor at Boston – Peter Gray, children are taught the most important life lessons not from parents or adults but from other children. They don’t learn as much from adults as they lean from other children.

So let them go outside and play with their friends!

FORGET ABOUT ARGUMENTS AND HEAVY DISCUSSIONS IN FRONT OF THEM

The brain of the children is developed in an unbelievable rate throughout early childhood. When they listen to or see problems of adults, it can negatively affect the psychological state of the child and will probably make them insecure or worried.
Adults should not make stressful discussions in front of their children – they should definitely leave them for the time when the child is not around.

NEVER COMPARE YOUR CHILD TO OTHERS

In today’s society; the most important thing for parents is the success of their children. Some parents think that they’ll motivate their children to do more if they compare them to others. Frequently, parents draw attention to a certain good personality trait of some child, hoping that one day their child will also acquire that trait.

Scientists claim that the tendency to compare your child to other children directly affects their self-confidence and self-worth.

MAKE THEM LEARN THE BENEFITS FROM NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

We have to be aware of the fact that a child is not a mature person. It is normal for them to experience sudden anger, envy or sadness. When the child acts like this, the parent can learn a lot from them.

Dr. John Gottman claims that parents often tend to criticize children and label their normal behavior as “misbehavior”. So the expression of their negative emotions often leads to a certain punishment.

The right way to access this problem is to acknowledge and teach the children that it is normal for them to experience negative emotions, because everyone does. And it is even more important to teach the child of how to deal with all those negative emotions.

PRAISE THEIR EFFOTS

The child will eventually come to an age when they are aware of the fact that they need to work hard in order to achieve something. It is crucial for the parents to recognize when the child does the best that they can to accomplish something.

Dr. Carol S. Dweck at Stanford notes that parents often praise the work of a child but in a wrong way. Instead of saying “You are so smart, so brave, so good at this…” the adult should focus on the specific task or accomplishment that the children has done.

RESPECT FAMILY TRADITIONS

A stable household is a very important aspect of a happy childhood and for a child to develop into a healthy individual. The more stable the household, the mote activities done together as a family.

The Child Development Institute instances the following benefits of a happy family: the child feels loved; the child sees positive adult characteristics; adults get to know their child better and they can guide them better later in the future; the child expresses their feelings and thoughts and the bond between the child and the parent is strengthened.

DON’T PREVENT THEM FROM TAKING THEIR CHANCES IN LIFE

Certain amount of supervision is indispensible; however, adults usually tend to overdo it by following every step they take. Too much control can negatively affect their development.

Recent study has shown that “overparenting”, constant satisfaction of all the children’s wants and needs, and constant control of the child’s actions and behavior negatively affect the child and results in inability to face with adverse situations, inability to cope, prolonged immaturity and lack of so many other necessary life skills.

GIVE THEM CERTAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

In addition to the last point, it is very important for the child to be given a sense of responsibility, like for example, doing their homework or chores without the parent’s micromanagement.

And why is this so? Child psychologists claim that the more attention the child gets when it is doing something which is its own responsibility, the more incapable it becomes. We don’t say that you should never pay attention to what it does, but it should be done to a certain level, because the child needs to be aware that when they don’t abide responsibilities there will be consequences.

MAKE HAPPY MEMORIES

Two Harvard professors have undertaken multiple experiments and concluded that adults who could recall food memories from their childhood seemed to possess a higher sense of moral purity.

Researchers claim that participants who had positive childhood memories tend to harshly judge unethical behavior, help other people and give money to charity.
So, by making beautiful memories in the child’s mind, you are also making them become happy and caring adults.

MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY!

There is no doubt that children learn from everything they see and hear. The child is a mirror of the parents, so if they have a positive behavior, the child tends to reflect it. Carolyn Cowan, a psychologist at University of California says that children cannot develop properly if the adults they see every day aren’t looking after themselves and their relationships.