A parent’s job is never to make their kids happy or smooth every bump in the road… Children learn by messing up, getting frustrated, and not getting their own way.
Becky Kennedy, Mom and Clinical Psychologist
Thank you, Becky Kennedy, for standing up for what I believe—something I understand more after seeing the unhappiness that comes from making children happy.
I’m hurting these days. As I teach and prepare lessons for my eager-to-learn students, I think of certain children I love and wish I could teach. I can’t. Why? Their mothers are absorbed in making sure they are continually happy. Therefore, they are academically behind, socially impaired, and often unpleasant to be around.
Otherwise, they are great kids. or could be if their moms didn’t try to keep them happy at all costs—costs which fall on parents, siblings, neighbors, and the teachers who are required to teach them.
As the mother of adult children and the friend of many mothers of adult children, here is what I’ve learned along the way. Even if you should make children happy, it is impossible. The only path is to do what is best for them—which rarely involves happiness.
