Posted on 01/07/2024 10:44:22 AM PST by aspasia
Many parents put a lot of focus into teaching their kids about cleaning their rooms, acting responsibly and doing homework. These things are important, but there’s one thing that many of us are completely forgetting about: how to enjoy life.
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Children can easily get the wrong message about happiness In my experience, people are happiest when their life includes some type of meaningful, productive activity. Unfortunately, we are constantly being bombarded with the message that happiness comes from consumption.
When advertisers tell us to “treat” ourselves to their products, they are trying to make us believe that buying things is the ultimate reward, that we will be happy only if we buy a fancier car or a bigger house.
How do you fight back? Don’t make it a habit to take your children to stores where they can go running around saying “I want this” and “I want that.”
Even if your child isn’t directly exposed to a lot of advertising, they may be exposed to the culture that this advertising has created. Their friend shows them some incredible new toy they got that the friend will play with for the next week until they get another toy, for example, or they attend a birthday party at which a friend is showered with gifts.
The happiest kids value experiences over material things Don’t encourage your child to believe that having things brings happiness by giving them too many gifts.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Holiness brings happiness. Sin on the other hand brings misery.
When I see young folks panicking about phony baloney “climate change” it is very encouraging.
That means we have nothing to worry about!
Eva Moskowitz ——— Bill de Blasio’s future political aspirations right in his -—, and for that we should all be grateful. This article is a joke.
The article is not a joke. You may disagree, but it’s hard to tell how.
The article is spot on. Regardless of the author, the message is correct.
TURN OFF the television!!!
Don't know about you ...
My recollection is that we knew about it, occasionally talked about it, but mostly just accepted it as reality and went on with our lives. Our lives weren't dominated by fear of nuclear WWIII.
There must be some practical steps to take before getting to holiness (a word as misunderstood as happiness).
First is to place true value on holiness on earth as a goal. So many plainly not only don’t do that, but scoff at the very idea. Next, identifying the intellect-darkening evil that is personal sin. Then, the tough part. Eliminating sin.
Access to the sacraments. Recourse to BVM. These keep the humble jalopy on the road and moving forward.
Good things happen along the way, and bad things are easier to deal with, with grace and equanimity.
Manners.
We just SPANKED our kids when they misbehaved. After a few times, the rest was easy.
Spanking?
You’re going to spank your teenage son for not saying “thank you” to his tennis coach?
Here I was thinking about wealth not being the end for happiness and how to model behavior as a parent and its down to spanking!
Maybe kids should learn to dialogue?
Spanking and then dialouge. Also, if spanking is done at the right times in a child’s development, there is no need to spank them when they’re teens, or even years before that. But if one starts too late, then ALL bets are off.
It's a difficult topic. If find it really challenging because luxury creeps in without knowing that its a problem.
I guess we have a difference of opinion, then. My approach to parenting, which is a lot more than just spanking (the spanking gets the parent some RESPECT), has also inculcated my children against the pressures of our consumption-driven society as I clearly explained that to them.
Anyway, I can only post what works for me, others may prefer a more labor-heavy approach, and that is fine too!
“we will be happy only if we buy a fancier car or a bigger house.”
It might boost a person’s self-esteem to have status symbols to flaunt but they can’t guarantee happiness.
Basically whenever they ask for ANYTHING, you say: “No, we cannot afford it” and then re-assess later and sometimes even buy it for them. The key for them to understand that nagging is futile.
Of course there are red-lines, and that included video games, smart phones (flip-phones only), computers only to the extent necessary (including the disabling of wireless communication for laptops). Other stuff that includes positioning them so we always see their screens. Teaching them math WITHOUT calculators, as every country with a decent education system does. Teaching them Phonics before ANY teacher gets their grubby hands on them. And, of course, not taking any crap from them.
In the end, raising them as I was raised, not how Dr. Spock tells me to raise them.
If that we're true . . . but in an age of luxury, there are many, many, parents who can afford that car, that house, and certainly anything in a general store.
For those of us who can afford more than what we need, we cannot say that and reassess later. To say it is disorganizing. It will earn disrespect. Slight distortions not only confuse your child, slight distortions destabilize yourself. It may even intefere with other important relationships.
That’s your take, and that’s fine. My experience is otherwise.
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