The Happiness Curriculum: Teaching Your Children To Live a Joyful and Passionate Life

Think back to your childhood for a moment. Didan important task, but it will not ensure their
anyone ever sit you down and talk with youhappiness. "Living a joyful and passionate
about how to live a joyful and passionate life?life" needs to be added to the childhood
Was this a frequent topic of discussion in thecurriculum.Unfortunately, schools aren't likely to
classroom, or at the dinner table? If so, thensqueeze it in between history and gym class
chances are good you came into contact with aanytime soon. So how can we teach these
significantly advanced soul. Most of our childhoodlessons at home? There are two important
lessons are in fact about being successful, notavenues, and both are necessary for the
about being happy. And the one, unfortunately,greatest effect. First, provide your children with a
does not necessarily lead to the other.In school,living example. Practice the art of living a joyful
lessons are about history, geography,and passionate life however, whenever, and
mathematics, grammar. The emphasis iswherever you can.Second, engage your children in
ultimately on preparing each student for futurea dialog on the subject. You won't have all the
training in a trade, be it technical school, college, oranswers. You aren't supposed to. So explore the
even a Ph.D. program. The curriculum is concernedpossibilities together. Talk to them openly about
with financial success, not happiness. And althoughyour greatest joys. Ask them about their dreams.
financial success can provide the most basicExperience those joys and dreams together, and
aspects of human satisfaction--food, clothing,explore new possibilities as they arise. This will
shelter--beyond these the connection betweenjump start a wonderfully positive cycle of shared
money and happiness is tenuous at best.At home,learning and growth.If you're having trouble
most lessons are designed to promote sociallyopening the conversation, try asking them what
acceptable ideas and behavior. Knowing how to fitthey think makes people happy and see what
in is a form of social success. Children learn to eatthey say. You might learn something. (Remember
with utensils instead of their hands. They arewhat Paula Poundstone says: adults are always
reminded to say "please" andasking kids what they want to be when they
"thank you." They are instructedgrow up because the grown-ups are looking for
(hopefully) not to bite, not to hit, not to lie, not toideas.)These conversations are pure gold. They will
steal. In short, they are indoctrinated with theencourage your children to pursue a joyful life,
countless behavioral, moral, and legal codes of ourand they will remind you to do the same. In fact,
inherited civilization.But here, again, learning how tothe conversations themselves are likely to be
"fit in" covers only the most basicamong your greatest joys. Sharing your most
level of happiness. We are glad not to beprofound inspirations with the people you love
outcasts, but at the same time, "fittingmost in the world is about as joyful as it gets.
in" can be its own source of sadness andThat's lesson number one. You can build the rest
disappointment. In the days before the modernof the syllabus together.--EM Sky has been a
feminist movement, how many women wouldmath instructor for The Johns Hopkins University,
have been happier as doctors or lawyers thana special effects technician in Hollywood, a project
they were being housewives? How many doctorsmanager for BellSouth, and a rock climbing
and lawyers today would be happier as autoinstructor in Atlanta. She even tried being a
mechanics if they weren’t concernedlawyer for a while, but fortunately she came to
about their social "status"? Whather senses. Now she is an author, writing on
percentage of each human lifetime is spentbusiness, life, and society for the whole human
worrying about what other people think?Teachingbeing.
children to succeed both financially and socially is