Stop trying to raise a happy child

The sign of a great parent is not a child who is always happy.

It is a child who can be unhappy and still do the right thing.

The modern parent is obsessed with happiness.

They rush to soothe every cry, fix every disappointment, and erase every struggle.

They treat their child's unhappiness as a personal failure.

Here's the uncomfortable truth.

You are not creating a happy child. You are creating a fragile one.

You are teaching them that happiness is the absence of problems, so they will spend their adult lives running from the very challenges that build character.

A great parent knows that character is forged in the fire of disappointment.

They teach their child to be honest when it's hard.

To be kind when they are angry.

To persevere when they want to quit.

Stop trying to raise a happy child.

Focus on raising a good one.

Happiness is a fleeting emotion. Character is the permanent foundation of a well-lived life.

Raji says: if your child forgets to bring their tennis racket to school for after school tennis practice or forgets to pack their reading glasses in their back pack, don't run home and bring it back to school. Forgetting something important is a lesson in itself, as the consequences of forgetting will follow. Forgetting reminds them not to forget next time.