HAST PUBLIC SCHOOL & JR.COLLEGE.DODAICA
BLOG NO 147
HOW TO MEASURE HAPPINESS IN CHILDRN,
Happiness and positivity can make a huge difference to your child’s wellbeing and achievement. Here is what we at our Hasti school try to do to make children happy.by prevent bullying , *by treating children fairly at school, by listening to children patiently , by including them in different activities of their interest, by telling children what they need to know and by trusting them and supporting them
In recent years, the media has been full of stories about the increase in mental health problems in children and young people. Children of primary school age are worrying about exam pressure,
It’s difficult to unpick the reasons for the current epidemic of unhappiness amongst children , but we think that the pace of modern life is partly responsible.
‘The world has sped up since we were kids, and we all have busy agendas – children included,’ ‘You can see, when the school holidays come around, the kids are exhausted too. And it’s not just physical exhaustion; life is emotionally gruelling.’
The pressure to succeed at school also plays a part, with primary schools more focused on results than ever before. ‘The system puts pressure on teachers to deliver good results, which then filters down to the children,’
The irony is that a happy child is more likely to perform well at school. Research has shown that mental and emotional problems affect children’s academic achievement. In contrast, children who are happy tend to gain higher grades, and, in turn, those with higher grades tend to be happier later in life
Apart from what our Hasti school is doing via different types of CCA/ECA to keep children happy , as a parents there’s a lot you can do to help children to be happier on a day-to-day basis. These include:
• Keeping a gratitude journal. ‘Every day – even if it’s been a rubbish day – your child can write down 10 things that they’re grateful for but usually take for granted. This stops them focusing on the negative,’s.
• Laughing. It sounds obvious, but* it releases feel-good hormones and reduces stress hormones. Sit down together and watch a funny DVD or look up silly videos on YouTube*.
• Performing random acts of kindness, such as making someone a cup of tea (unprompted) helping with the washing-up or reading their younger sibling a story.
• Writing a letter to themselves. ‘Get them to imagine they’re 30 years old and writing to their childhood self. What advice would they give themselves?’ .
• Encouraging a growth mindset. ‘Praise children for hard work and perseverance rather than results, rewarding the effort rather than the outcome.
• Exercising. There’s a strong link between physical activity and mental wellbeing, so walking or cycling to school, playing football on ground after school or taking up dance or tennis lessons could boost your child’s emotional health.
• Celebrating their strengths. ‘At school, if a child is rubbish at maths, they’re just given more maths, which makes them feel worse. So at home, focus on praising the things they’re good at and doing more of them,’.
• Reading together. ‘You can’t underestimate the impact of sitting on your child’s bed and reading them a bedtime story – even if they’re perfectly capable of reading by themselves,’ ( HASTI VACHASPATI ,FAMILY READING)
• Being more sociable. ‘Instead of walking around with your heads down, smile at everyone within 10 feet and make eye contact and say “hello” to everyone within five feet.’
• Hugging. ‘Most hugs only last 2.1 seconds, but to get the maximum love-surge, they need to last seven seconds or longer, so introducing the seven-second hug is a really easy way of making your child feel special,’ .
Above all, (try to keep the importance of happiness at the front of your mind: easier said than done when you’re worrying about homework, projects etc.
‘All we want at that moment is for them to be happy, and that’s something we all need to remember as our children get older.’
Since we know happiness, motivates individual activities, raises awareness, strengthens creativity and facilitates social relationships. So happiness is the important key in educational system,
happiness is one of the main emotions a person can have. The others were feeling *sad,* angry*, excited, upset, frustrated, lonely, shy, anxious, afraid, embarrassed, guilty, joyful or annoyed.
The dictionary says that happiness is ‘feeling pleasure or contentment’. other words to describe happiness, like ‘joy’, ‘achievement’ and being ‘cool, calm and collected’. Happiness also meant being satisfied with how things are for you, being with people you want to be with, and not being depressed*.
Children we asked said that people are not born as happy or unhappy sorts of people. They are made happy or unhappy by what happens to them.
you ‘can’t be born happy, but can be born into happiness.’
Money can help you to be happy, but money on its own cannot make you happy. A lot of what makes you happy is not about money – for example, family.
Many thought that children are becoming unhappier these days as life becomes more competitive, with higher expectations of children and young people, increasing pressure and examinations at school, and worries about the economy and recession.
FOLLOWING QUESTIONNAIRE MAY HELP YOU TO DECIDE HOE MUCH HAPPY YOU OR YOUR WARD IS *
Below are a number of statements about happiness. Please indicate how much you agree or disagree with each by entering a number in the blank after each statement, according to the following scale:
1 = strongly disagree
2 = moderately disagree
3 = slightly disagree
4 = slightly agree
5 = moderately agree
6 = strongly agree
Please The first answer that comes into your head is probably the right one for you. If you find some of the questions difficult, please give the answer that is true for you in general or for most of the time.
The Questionnaire
1. I don’t feel particularly pleased with the way I am. ___
2. I am intensely interested in other people. ___
3. I feel that life is very rewarding. ___
4. I have very warm feelings towards almost everyone. ___
5. I rarely wake up feeling rested. ___
6. I am not particularly optimistic about the future. ___
7. I find most things amusing. ___
8. I am always committed and involved. ___
9. Life is good. ___
10. I do not think that the world is a good place. ___
11. I laugh a lot. ___
12. I am well satisfied about everything in my life. ___
13. I don’t think I look attractive. ___
14. There is a gap between what I would like to do and what I have done. ___
15. I am very happy. ___
16. I find beauty in some things. ___
17. I always have a cheerful effect on others. ___
18. I can fit in (find time for) everything I want to. ___
19. I feel that I am not especially in control of my life. ___
20. I feel able to take anything on. ___
21. I feel fully mentally alert. ___
22. I often experience joy and elation. ___
23. I don’t find it easy to make decisions. ___
24. I don’t have a particular sense of meaning and purpose in my life. ___
25. I feel I have a great deal of energy. ___
26. I usually have a good influence on events. ___
27. I don’t have fun with other people. ___
28. I don’t feel particularly healthy. ___
29. I don’t have particularly happy memories of the past. ___
Calculate your score
Step 1. Items marked (R) should be scored in reverse:
If you gave yourself a “1,” cross it out and change it to a “6.”
Change “2” to a “5”
Change “3” to a “4”
Change “4” to a “3”
Change “5” to a “2”
Change “6” to a “1”
Step 2 Add the numbers for all 29 questions. (Use the converted numbers for the 12 items that are reverse scored.)
Step 3. Divide by 29. So your happiness score = the total (from step 2) divided by 29.
I recommend you record your score and the date. Then you’ll have the option to compare your score now with your score at a later date. This can be especially helpful if you are trying some of the exercises, and actively working on increasing your happiness.
INTERPRETATION OF SCORE
1-2 : Not happy. If you answered honestly and got a very low score, you’re probably seeing yourself and your situation as worse than it really is. I recommend taking the Depression Symptoms test (CES-D Questionnaire) at the University of Pennsylvania’s “Authentic Happiness” Testing Center. You’ll have to register, but this is beneficial because there are a lot of good tests there and you can re-take them later and compare your scores.
2-3 : Somewhat unhappy. Try some of the exercises on this site like the Gratitude Journal & Gratitude Lists, or the Gratitude Visit; or take a look at the “Authentic Happiness” site mentioned immediately above.
3-4 : Not particularly happy or unhappy. A score of 3.5 would be an exact numerical average of happy and unhappy responses. Some of the exercises mentioned just above have been tested in scientific studies and have been shown to make people lastingly happier.
4 : Somewhat happy or moderately happy. Satisfied. This is what the average person scores.
4-5 : Rather happy; pretty happy. Check other score ranges for some of my suggestions.
5-6 : Very happy. Being happy has more benefits than just feeling good. It’s correlated with benefits like health, better marriages, and attaining your goals. Check back – I’ll be writing a post about this topic soon.
6 : Too happy. Yes, you read that right. Recent research seems to show that there’s an optimal level of happiness for things like doing well at work or school, or for being healthy, and that being “too happy” may be associated with lower levels of such things. . MY SCORE WAS 1-2 WHICH AFTER WARD CHANGED TO 3-4 .EVERY ONE SHOULD TRY *
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