Ask any parent: “What do you want for your child?” Most will say, “Just to be happy.” Some will say a satisfying career, a healthy body, good relationships. But why do we want these things for our children? So that they can be happy, of course! So it seems that a fundamental task of parenthood is to ensure that you are equipping your child with the capacity for happiness.
But what is happiness? Numerous psychological studies have shown that people consider happiness to be a feeling of connection to others, or a sense of satisfaction derived from achieving a challenging task – be it work or play – and doing it well. This is at odds with worldwide media trends that seem to measure happiness in the form of material wealth.
Ask a 6-year-old what makes her happy,
