Decoding Happy Childhood
"A happy childhood is one of the best gifts that parents have in their power to bestow."
- Mary Cholmondeley
We now know that the crucial first seven years of child’s life play a pivotal role in determining how she/he turns out as an adult. I believe childhood gives every one a tool and trauma to wade through the life and also co create the future.
It important that parents give it a very important thought, together and individually, on what sort of experiences they want their child or children to be exposed to. They say that children especially during their growing years are like sponge, they absorb all the experiences around them and understand it the way presented by their parents or grandparents or any influential adult. Children also have vivid imagination and every incident they experience will have a lasting effect on them.
Every household has a pattern of lifestyle, set beliefs, influenced by our parents, grandparents and so on chronologically. So many helpful traditional wisdom are passed on, to the next generation but also pay heed to lifestyle patterns and beliefs that may no longer work or hold good for us or our kids in current times.
Is there a rule book on how to be happy and how to bring up happier children?
No , there is no one way to it ,of course there are many things written and advised which can be taken as a point of reference, but each parent will have to find their own way to it.
We can start, by asking ourselves few questions though, like
Whatever makes us happy, can it make our kid also happy?
What are the repercussions of Comparison?
As an individual ,are we at peace with ourselves, and have we accepted every aspect of ours and embraced ourselves.
Can we encourage gender neutral discussions and conversations at home?
What’s freedom and how important is Choice?
Do you listen to your child?
Our kid’s happy childhood starts from the parent’s demeanor, the ambiance they create, the conversations they have, the space they create for their kids to express, discover , choose and decide their own path.
Kahlil Gibran was right when he said:
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.”
When a kid has experienced abundance of love ,freedom to express , to understand and to be understood , to play , laugh , experience magic of nature without any inhibitions , when their energies are channelized in the right direction , they would thus grow into wonderful, loving adult and would create a beautiful space around them where life would thrive. There is a strong evidence of links between children’s happiness about the amount of choice they have in life, their sense of autonomy and their overall well-being.
Maybe as adults we just need to be around to nurture and nourish them, to show them the wonders of our world ;also to sensitize them towards the dangers and shortcomings in our world .Well after all a well lived life is about all experiences ; good , bad and ugly ; we need to tell our kids, its never about winning or losing.
Let us be a conscious adult and let awareness guide us to be responsible individuals, citizens and parents.
