It’s time to be happy
In these days of overprotection and structured childhood, being a kid has really become preparation for ’successful’ adulthood. An adult life that most (all?) parents hope will be triumphant and more successful than their own.
We give our kids a lot - more than we had, more than our parents had. All those material possessions and essential experiences that they need in order to be the successful, intelligent and beautiful adult we know (want) them to be. We parents pay a lot for all those meaningful, educational experiences that will give our child just the right skills to be the best.
But - they don’t seem to appreciate or even be aware of what we’re doing for them. The time, the cost, the inconvenience we go through to give our kids everything they need. It’s sooo frustrating. Don’t they understand?
Perhaps it’s us who don’t understand. We’re no longer allowing our kids to be what they want to be. Do we let them enjoy being kids and experience the fun if the childhoods we had? Can we let them get the lumps and bumps and scrapes from playing outside? Is it right to let them fight their own battles and sometimes lose? Will doing that make them happier, or more to the point will it make our lives easier? Can we let our kids enjoy being kids and do some of the things we did when we were younger?
Everyone needs down-time and some unstructured space in which to explore and enjoy life. So here at Happy Parent we’ve come up with 50 essential experiences that all ‘well-rounded adults need to have had in order to appreciate life and the world. We’ll roll out those 50 in coming months, as well as some running commentary on issues facing parents today. I’ll explain more about myself in coming weeks, as will my spouse and co-blogger, David.