Review by STACY DONG
(www.zainelicious.blogspot.com)

RAISING HAPPINESS
10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents
By Christine Carter
Publisher: Ballantine Books

Happiness is something that parents would want and wish for our children.

A lot of times, however, a lot of parents (like me!) do not feel that our children’s future happiness is within our control. While we may have a certain amount of control while the children are still under our care, how many parents could for certain say that their children would be happy as adults? I certainly can't and it is something that I cannot bear thinking about and, believe you me, this keeps me up at night sometimes.

The only thing we can do now is ensure that our children get the best education available and hopefully, they would be successful and would not lack anything materially in the future. However, how do we ensure that emotionally, they would be healthy and happy as well?

The good news is that contrary to popular belief, happiness is not a wild card that we chance upon. A person is not happy due to his good luck. Nor is it purely based on his genetics. How many times have we heard comments about a happy person - “he’s just born with a happy-go-lucky personality.”

In Raising Happiness, author Christine Carter, from scientific research related to happiness, states that we as parents actually have a good amount of control over our children’s happiness through our parenting practices. Our parenting practices would have a tremendous influence on our children’s emotional outlook on life.

Raising Happiness aims to help parents raise happy kids. More specifically, it is “about setting up your children to thrive” through fostering the necessary skills, habits and mindsets that will teach and encourage a wide range of positive emotions during childhood and beyond.

Carter in Raising Happiness takes parents and caretakers through 10 steps which would help raise a happy child. These steps include first and foremost taking care of yourself as a caretaker, fostering strong social relationships, fostering positive attitudes such as gratitude, forgiveness and optimism, raising their emotional intelligence, forming and fostering happiness habits, the importance of self-discipline, enjoying the present, and having dinner together.

Each step aims to prepare your children to be emotionally adept in handling any curve balls that life might throw at them so that they would not feel defeated, especially emotionally.

I like the hope that Carter conveys in this book. And, the best thing about it is how accessible and attainable that hope is.

All the steps are doable, not daunting and not overly-ambitious for us parents to “raise happiness.” They are, in fact, things and values such as gratitude, forgiveness and optimism that we as parents are trying or have been instilling in our children anyway.

I think it also helps that Carter herself is a mother to two girls. Hence, she could relate to fellow parents and it shows in the book and the 10 steps. The steps, pointers and tips found throughout the book are definitely from a parent’s perspective, hence they are more realistic and not at all overwhelming.

This book definitely gets a thumbs-up from me.

I can now sleep better knowing that I have the tools to ensure that my son is and would be emotionally adept throughout his life. Sure, I still cannot be 100% sure that he will be happy, but at least I know I can help and ensure that his happiness is within easy reach.

I would definitely recommend this book to all parents and caretakers.