Raising Happy Kids

A brief article under the heading You Should Know in the most recent issue of Suburban Parent, a Dallas-Fort Worth free publication, caught my eye. "TV Watching Linked to Unhappiness?" the article asked. The single paragraph referred to a recent study at the University of Maryland. My interest was captured. I have long maintained that too much TV has a negative impact. In my opinion one downside is the belief that television leads us to expect all of life's problems to be solved in a thirty, sixty or ninty minutes format, depending on the severity of the issue.

I did a quick search on Google and found the study itself. A brief summary was also published on sciencedaily.com in November, 2008. It turns out this is a long-term study, going back thirty years. Two professors from the university gathered data on 30,000 adults. That makes for a pretty impressive and valid study. They examined the activity patterns of happy and unhappy people between 1975 and 2006. The authors discovered that happy people were more socially active, attended more religious services, voted more often and read more newspapers. In contrast, unhappy people watched significantly more television in their spare time and read less. Watching televsion does produce short-term satisfaction but can become addictive.

So what does this mean to today's parents. I believe it reinforces the need to provide our kids with a balanced lifestyle. Our children should experience a variety of experiences on a regular basis. They should be encourage to participate in sports and other leisure activities. They should also be socially active, interacting with a variety of individual, including some adults who will have a positive influence. Church activities, including youth group, are also important.

Television, videos and gaming are a part of our culture. It's up to us to dictate the amount of influence they have. Remember, we are the adults and they are the kids. If we don't want the media to control them, we have to exercise control over their lifestyle. By the way, leading a healthy lifestyle yourself will help you live a happier life too. You will also be setting a good example.