Happy Child

Found this article and my valueless ranting can be found below.

How to grow a happy child
By John Rosemond

Here are some tips for having a happy child:

1. If you're married, have a more active relationship with your spouse than with your children. Spend more time in the roles of husband and wife than you spend in the roles of mother and father. Nothing causes a child greater insecurity than the sense that his parents' marriage is not the most solid, permanent thing in his life, and vice versa.

Sometimes having a relationship with your spouse is almost like having a relationship with a child so that could be difficult.

2. If you are single, do not be married to your children. Have an active life outside of your role as mother or father. Be an interesting person to your kids. The well-being of a single parent is essential to that of his or her children.

Not single but there are those days...

3. Expect your children to obey. Expect this calmly, as if you take their obedience for granted. Who is the happier employee: the one who frequently attempts to get away with breaking the rules, or the one who obeys the rules? Substitute child for employee and the answer is the same.

You can probably expect all you want but sometimes things just don't go that way.

4. Expect your children to be responsible citizens of your family. From the time they are 3, assign them to do chores around the home — chores that mean something. Teach your 3-year-old to wash floors. Teach your 4-year-old to vacuum. Teach your 5-year-old to clean the bathroom. Good citizenship is a matter of making contributions. Too many of today's kids have no meaningful roles in their families. They're just there, consuming, and the more they consume, the more they demand.

Wow, just what MSO wants to hear to get baby into gear with cleaning and cooking.
Yeah, and the more today's kids consume, the more they demand, and the more overweight they become. Oh, and that's in addition to cleaning out your wallet.

5. Teach your children that happiness is not a matter of how much you have, but a matter of how much you do with what you have. Don't buy them a lot of things that will end up doing nothing but cluttering up their lives.

Feng shui.

6. Teach your children that two of the most fun things to do are reading and traveling, both of which involve the accumulation of memories as opposed to things. Read to your children early and often. Every time you are inclined to buy your child a toy, consider instead taking him or her fishing or camping or to a museum. Spend time, not money.

I like this one, but look at parents and their toys today - iPods (we know Gee Why will be getting the Nike+iPod Sports Kit eventually, right?), Mr. Potato Head, etc., etc., etc. =)

7. Let television and video games into your children's lives very little, if at all. The happiest children are not found staring at TV sets. They are found in parks, on playgrounds, and in other three-dimensional places.

So far we've been pretty good about not watching TV with baby around. We go out and see three-dimensional people and places whenever we can.

8. Help your children develop hobbies. Few things exercise imagination and creativity as well as a hobby. By the way, a hobby is not an after-school sport. A hobby is something a child can do by himself, eventually without adult supervision.

Is chewing on things considered a hobby?

9. Teach your children good manners. Good manners are a demonstration of attentiveness to and respect for others, and the happiest people are those who pay more attention to others than they want others to pay to them.

Right now it's all about baby.

10. Hold your children to high standards. You show respect for a child by expecting of the child. Expect the best manners. Expect the best schoolwork your child is capable of. Expect your child to pitch in around the house. Hold your child accountable for his behavior. Happy campers always do their best.

We'll see what we can do.

Family psychologist John Rosemond answers parents' questions at www.rosemond.com.

How much does this guy get paid?