What makes your daughter happy? I know that as a parent we pretty much want the same thing. We want our daughters to grow up loving and being loved. We want them to make good career choices. We want them to be happy. But how much control do we have over the emotions – their happiness. I’d like to give you a few tips that will ensure your daughters happiness will overflow.

As you know our children absorb our emotions – I suggest nurturing your own happiness first. Your daughter’s environment must be of a happy and nurturing environment. Nurture your relationship with your spouse or partner. And for those single parents nurture your relationship with yourself. Do things to allow yourself some down time. When you are happy you encourage your daughter to be happy – remember she absorbs your emotions. Try and remember rest, relaxation and me or us time. Don’t try to make her happy encourage her happiness – this helps her to practice self help. These are the skills that she will use for the rest of her life. In other words these are the life skills that will help build her confidence and develop her identity.

Become her best cheerleader on the right stuff. Don’t praise her for everything. Praise the effort not result. Praise the creativity, the hard work and the persistence that goes into the achievement rather than the achievement itself. For example praise her for the hard work and preparation she did for her test – not the grade.

Your daughter’s happiness also depends on the feeling that what she does matters around the house and is valued by you. As a rule of thumb, people in general need to be needed. The more you can convey to your daughter that she is making a unique contribution to the family - her self worth will ultimately be her happiness.

Ultimately a secure relationship with her family will create the atmosphere to feel confident and the ability to explore the world. It will also make room for her to feel better when she has successes and failures. All are components for happiness! In the short of things a new toy will make her happy too. Enjoy!

Live, Love and Laugh
“Making a difference in the world one person at a time”