How to raise a happy child, in 7 steps

Several keys can help us to educate our children in positive values.

One of the greatest desires of a parent is that their child grows up healthy, happy and successful in all facets of their life.. But raising a child is not always easy, and it can happen that many parents, in an attempt to give their children everything, abuse overprotection and end up spoiling their children.

A happy child is not one who has a house full of toys and to whom everything is spoiled, because excessive gifts can cause a child to grow up spoiled. When it is wanted so much In this sense, the behavior of the parents and his way of educating his children is going to affect to the future personality of these and to his well-being and happiness throughout his life.

How to raise a happy child

To be a good parent is not to give your child everything he wants, even his whims, nor to be carried away by his demands and manipulation. Rather a good father offers his offspring an education that will help them to become emotionally strong people for the future and prepared for the good and bad times in life. for the future and prepared for the good and bad moments that life will bring them.

If you are a parent and want to know what you can do to help your child grow up happy, in the following lines you will find 10 tips for your child to grow up emotionally healthy.

1. Teach your child to tolerate frustration

Not everything in life is rosy. There are good moments and bad moments that we have to live through.. To grow as people we must be able not only to enjoy the good moments that life presents us, but we must know how to deal with those situations that are not so pleasant.

Frustration tolerance is one of those skills that allow us to cope with life and that are essential to solve problems and take advantage of bad moments to grow as human beings. To develop frustration tolerance is to develop resilience and the ability to overcome problems. People with low frustration tolerance are vulnerable to emotional pain, are impulsive and have difficulty adapting to changing environments. Therefore, it is important to educate in values such as effort, being consistent and setting an example, setting limits for your children, among other behaviors that you can find in our article "How to teach your children to tolerate frustration, in 6 steps".

2. Acknowledge your child's perspective and empathize with him or her

Children also feel emotions. In fact, Paul C. Holinger, professor of psychiatry at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, says, "They feel emotions too. A researcher at St. Luke's in Chicago identified nine "signals" that toddlers use to communicate their feelings. As parents, we may compare the feelings of our children to those of adults, ignoring the fact that their mental development is in its early stages.

The author argues that when a child hits a sibling or throws toys, it means that he is distressed and that is his form of expression. Although their reaction may seem disproportionate, recognizing the signals our child is sending us helps enormously in dealing with them appropriately. Empathizing with your child is key to building trust and being a good parent.

3. Communicate and listen to your child

While recognizing your child's emotions and empathizing with them is good for their happiness, so is communicating and listening to what they have to say.. Children need to feel important and loved, so it is good to listen to what they have and communicate appropriately in order to express trust and strengthen the bond of affection.

4. Don't give in to tantrums

It may seem that giving in to tantrums is the best way to make our child feel good, but this is a way to reinforce negative behaviors.. If we give in to tantrums, we are implying that he can get what he wants if he throws tantrums or cries. Not giving everything up front can be a good alternative for our child to begin to value things.

5. Spend time with your child

Children should notice that parents feel love towards them, because the parental figure is necessary for the healthy development of a child. Spending time with the children is enriching for both parties, which increases the trust between both. Read stories to your child, play with them, teach them new things, take them on outings, and have fun with them..

6. Set limits

Setting limits may seem bad, but it is necessary for children to have some discipline to learn that life has limits and they can't do whatever they want whenever they want, so they are aware of what they should do and how far they can go. It is not good to be an excessively permissive parent, because children need to have a pattern by which to guide their behavior..

7. Praise their achievements

For a child to be happy, he/she must have high self-esteem and self-confidence, which will allow him/her to face the less pleasant moments of life.. People tend to highlight the bad moments of our children, but we should also praise those behaviors that are positive, with the intention of giving them feedback and as a way to reward what they do well.