How to raise happy children!

On the occasion of a great psychiatrist and teacher who offered a lot in the field of education, Rudolf Dreikurs, we present you a mini guide for a happy family!
My father's office was always full of books on child psychology and education. I will never forget a typical picture: on the wall above his chair there was a piece of paper stuck as a child, all I understood was numbers and letters. It was a list of things a gentleman with a strange name had written.
Later in college, when I had to do a job on child psychology, I discovered that this gentleman was none other than a great Austro-American psychiatrist and teacher, Rudolf Dreikurs (Rudolf Draikurs 1897-1972). His main occupation in his career was to find the causes of children's misbehavior but also to record - which he did with great success - ways through positive psychology and motivation to improve this behavior. His books on positive education have become books for thousands of parents, who have discovered that their child's happiness is based on simple, everyday things.
There are no magic recipes for happiness, that's for sure. Each of us is looking for our own way and making history in our own way. Especially parents, charged with the task of raising their children, carry a giant burden: to meet their needs, to offer them a better world, to make them happy. Sometimes this effort becomes an end in itself and parents forget to have fun with their children and do not "listen" to their real needs.
Today, more than ever, as the messages around us seem intimidating and ominous for the future, Dreikurs' remarks remind us that children have the key to a happier life!
Children's wish list!
In 18 simple sentences and borrowing the "voice" of thousands of children and the experience of years, Dr.Dreikurs gathered everything that makes a child happy. So, if the children had the opportunity to make a list of what they want and what makes them happy, here is what they would say to every parent:
- Don't fool me. I know very well that you should not give me what I ask of you. I'm just trying to see you.
- Do not hesitate to be firm with me. I prefer. You make me feel more confident.
- Don't make me feel smaller than I am. This sometimes pushes me to pretend to be great.
- Don't comment on me in front of the world, if you can. I will pay more attention to what you tell me, if you speak to me calmly at some point when we are both together.
- Don't make me feel like my mistakes are sins. This confuses me with all the values I have learned to recognize.
- Don't be so upset when I tell you "I'm not digesting you". I am not addressing you, but the power you have to oppose.
- Don't always protect me from the consequences. Sometimes I need to suffer to learn.
- Don't pay too much attention to my little moods. Sometimes they are created just to get the attention I was looking for.
- Don't keep making remarks to me. Because then I will have to protect myself by deafening.
- Don't make frivolous promises to me. I feel very despised when you don't keep them.
- Don't overestimate my honesty. Often your threats push me into lies.
- Don't fall into contradictions. You confuse me unimaginably and make me lose my faith in you.
- Don't ignore me when I ask you questions. If you do that you will find that I will start getting my information from other sources.
- Don't try to make me believe that you are perfect or infallible. It's a shock to me when I find out you're neither.
- Never think that your reputation will fall if you apologize to me. An honest acknowledgment of a mistake of yours makes me feel very warm.
- Don't forget that I like to experiment. I can't live without it. Please admit it!
- Don't forget how fast I grow. It should be difficult for you to keep up with me, but try.
- Don't forget that I will not be able to grow without a lot of understanding and love. But I don't need to tell you that.
Top 5 of sucess
Observing the signs of the times and listening to the needs of children and parents, we came up with 5 small truths and tips that will help you and guide you to raise balanced and happy children.
1. Get rid of materialism from the values you give to your children.
After the era of overconsumption, we have moved into a time of crisis. But the conclusion is always the same: materialism has consequences, even if we don't like it! If you want a happy child, make sure you don't constantly create consumer needs for him. Little by little, they can make any child happy. After all, happiness is not measured in any currency!
2. Teach your children how to fight every day.
All the good things in life need a struggle to be conquered. After all, "battles" and dialogue are necessary for the spiritual, emotional and moral development of the child. Children are not born with the ability to fight and claim. So you have to teach them to learn that happiness is conquered by struggle.
3. Forgiveness means I am happy.
Of the few real-value Christian values, forgiveness is the simplest but also the most difficult way to be happy. When we do not forgive, we keep in us anger and hostility that poisons us. That's why children need to learn early on how and why they should forgive.
4. Sit at the table together
This old, good, Greek, family habit is time to make its appearance dynamically through the time warp of history, if you want to have happy children. None of us wants to eat alone. But especially in a family, gathering around a table creates unique bonds. Think that our best memories are those of the holidays and the rich tables, where the whole family gathered and had to tell from stories to quarrels, to announce important decisions, etc. Science now advocates that when the whole family eats together, children are less likely to become obese, while parent-child relationships are strengthened.
5. Turn off the TV
Television has managed to entertain us for several years "until death", as a great communication theorist, Neil Postman, has said. In other words, it does not offer us anything and unfortunately it can seriously harm children's development. We do not recommend you to return to the Middle Ages. But we suggest that if you want to have healthier, smarter and happier children, you should prefer a walk in the park or a book!
Are the children happy?
Recently, UNICEF presented a report on the situation of children in the world, as well as strategies that can help reduce the number of children dying before their fifth birthday.
UNICEF, in particular, argues that the integration of basic services at the community level for mothers, newborns and young children, as well as sustainable improvements in national health systems can save the lives of many more than 26,000 children under the age of 5. who still die every day. The challenge is to ensure that children have access to uninterrupted health care, supported by strong national health systems. Exclusive breastfeeding, vaccination, insecticide mosquito nets and the provision of vitamin A are crucial measures to reduce infant mortality.
The good news is that initiatives such as the global measles campaign, which has helped reduce measles deaths by 68% worldwide and more than 90% in Africa since 2000, are successful and send optimistic messages for the future. The good news continues, as the annual death toll has dropped by half, from about 20 million in 1960 to 9.7 million in 2006. Since 1990, 61 countries have reduced child mortality rates by 50% and more.
The bad news is that, on average, more than 26,000 children under the age of five die every day, most of them from causes that can be prevented. More than 80% of all deaths of children under the age of 5 in 2006 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (more than 50% in sub-Saharan Africa despite the fact that less than a quarter of the world's children live there). To achieve the Millennium Development Goals for Child Survival, it is arguably the biggest reduction in these indicators.