Glitter & Razz Blog

By the way, this is not me. I am WAY more beautiful.

A number of years ago, Allison and I were visiting friends in Manhattan and Allison got into a great conversation with an old college friend of hers.  They hadn’t seen each other in awhile and they were catching up on their lives since college.  They had come to learn that the world is not necessarily set up to hand happiness over to you.  Happiness is not something we are owed.  Time and experience had revealed to these post-college young women that all of us must “fight to make ourselves happy.”

In reading the 3rd and 4th Chapters of Christine Carter’s Raising Happiness, I am even more convinced of the fact that happiness is not just taught and learned, it is also actively chosen. She writes, “I have learned that throughout my day I’ll have dozens of opportunities to change direction – choose between optimism and pessimism, for example, or forgiveness and anger.  Sometimes I cruise through the intersection, missing my turn.  There are lots of possible roads, but only some of them lead to happiness.”

She writes a lot about the choices we make – the things we choose to say, do, focus, and reflect on, that make a big difference in our life and our childrens’ lives.  This is why I love using the theatrical process to teach these kinds of social/emotional skills.  The craft of making theater is all about choices.  The great actor teacher, Sanford Meisner said, “Every little moment has a meaning all its own.” An actor’s job is to be aware of every moment and recognize that she has a choice to make in that moment and that that choice will bring about a response in her fellow actors and, ultimately, with the audience.  This constant attention to these choices is what distinguishes a great actor from an okay actor.

And I believe that this constant attention to the meaning in every moment – and then making an intentional choice towards gratitude, forgiveness, passion, learning. etc. – is what distinguishes happy people from the rest.

This post is part of a series of posts as I read Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps For More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents in preparation of our event with the author, Christine Carter, PhD on March 20.  Click here for more information and to register for the event>>>

It’s such a simple idea: The happier we are, the happier our kids are.  Christine Carter calls it “Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask First.”  From her book:

Our own happiness as parents influences our children’s happiness in a variety of ways.  Extensive research has established a substantial link between mothers who feel depressed and “negative outcomes” in their children, such as acting out and other behavior problems…Children imitate their parents’ emotions as early as six days old…so if we model happiness – and all the skills that go with it – our kids are likely to imitate what we do.

What do you do just for yourself to make sure that you have the oxygen you need?

This post is part of a series of posts as I read Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps For More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents in preparation of our event with the author, Christine Carter, PhD on March 20.  Click here for more information and to register for the event>>>

I just received my copy of Christine Carter’s Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps For More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents. And I am excited beyond belief that Glitter & Razz will be hosting Dr. Carter next month for a book reading like none other. In our interactive learning event for whole family, parents will be in one room learning directly from Christine, hearing her read from her book, and asking her questions.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the Glitter & Razz Dramatic Play Space, their kids will be working together to create their own original play that explores what a happy childhood means from their perspective.

Christine’s thesis is that “happiness is a skill that we can teach our children.” And this book breaks down all kinds of ways to do just that. I love everything about this because we share this same idea here at Glitter & Razz – that if we provide safe but challenging spaces for kids to learn the social and emotional skills to improve their lives now, it will serve them for life and ultimately improve the planet.

Christine says it best at the end of her introduction – “When we become better parents, our world improves measurably. In our materially rich but spiritually sparse culture, we often forget that this work we do as parents is important, essential. It matters - for our children’s well-being and for the greater good of the world.”

I am reading the book now in preparation for the event.  Get your copy now or at the event from Diesel, A Bookstore right here on College Avenue.  And please read along with me.  I will be posting stuff I find interesting as I read.  I’d love to hear your comments.