Daniel makes stuff, and, in his spare time, writes about things like movies, kid culture, and geek stuff.
Is Happiness Actually Worth It?

Another gem from Christine Carter at the Half Full parenting blog, over at Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center.

The takeaway: to be truly happy, we can strive to appreciate—and maybe even exaggerate—the good in our relationships. This isn’t blind love, but a combination of knowing and adoring. Contentment with and acceptance of the people around us is critical for our ultimate happiness, and so we need to teach our children to nurture—perhaps even romanticize—their most important relationships.

All of this is to say that happiness is not a fluffy or frivolous notion; it is the most important thing we can foster in ourselves and our children, both for its own value and for its contributions to other things we value, such as professional and social success.

Carter has an vibrant and exemplary way of finding the best and latest social science research, contextualising it so that it’s accessible to all audiences, and then applying the principles from that research to everyday life and parenting. Good stuff.

Nov 18, 2009 :: Tagged under: , , :: #