Whenever i see parents of depressed children, they often ask me this question,
“How do I make my child happy?”
Most parents feel responsible to make their child happy. Some parents shared that they have done everything that they could think of to make their child happy. For example, buying them gifts, cooking them food, taking them on holiday, planning a party for them etc. However, after all their efforts, it did not seem to work.
Usually i would then ask them back this question.
“Are you happy”
A quote that i read from a book by Haemin Sunim beautifully describes why i ask that question.
The greatest gift that parents can give their child is to be happy themselves.
If the parents are happy, then the child can grow up into a happy and confident adult.
But if the parents are not happy, then the child can feel worthless
unable to make his parents happy no matter what
While parents may feel that it is their responsibility to make their children happy, it is often not their responsibility to do so. Children observe, learn and imitate people who are the closest to them. They learn how to be happy from their parents. Thus, the answer is quite simple, if you want your child to be happy, you have to firstly be happy.
Let go of the things that you cannot control but master the courage to control what you can.
