There is a certain inherent privilege some might see here- those who can relate to being adults who grew up in environments which left them with happiness being an emotion they cannot process or express, an odd and foreign thing.
I’m not here to troll- merely to say that I would advise to teach children tools, as many different tools and prudent and necessary, to express and process emotions. Give them guidance in navigating emotions and using their tools, but allow them to determine what emotions they wish to express in what ways and which tools they might choose to do so through.
It is possible to try to be so healthy it becomes toxic. Things like constantly questioning if you are truly happy or looking for any possible trauma or unresolved issue to pin any objectionable aspect of one’s life or personality on when things are otherwise fine if not perhaps a bit boring. Or things like creating a view that if one isn’t meeting the steps of a specific process or school of thought…
.. that one cannot be doing things in a “healthy way” or in a healthy state. You don’t have to cry- ever. In your life. If you do not want to or feel the need and are otherwise able to process and express emotion and are able to live your life as much as you’d want to live it as least as anyone else. You also should feel safe to cry when you want to or feel a need to.
It’s a touch like the dodgy issue in feminism concerning “what happens when a woman chooses to be a stay at home mother and support for their partner and truly enjoys or intuitively lives to a ‘traditIonal’ standard?”
If we want to empower people we need to empower them, not tell them the way they should do it, but give the tools and freedom and support to find the way they want to do it and then do that. That’s my thoughts anyway.
I’m going to save the long winded post with “99 ways to connect with kids” because I don’t know your life and I think your a sharp one, so I doubt some random turd nugget of wisdom I could plop out would beat what you’ve already tried. Instead I’ll just say- that can be a real tough nut to crack snow. Are they by chance in their teen years?
The fact you are there and the fact you care is more than a lot of kids get, so hopefully that counts for something and they realize it, now or someday at least.
Best holiday wishes to you and yours.
I’m not here to troll- merely to say that I would advise to teach children tools, as many different tools and prudent and necessary, to express and process emotions. Give them guidance in navigating emotions and using their tools, but allow them to determine what emotions they wish to express in what ways and which tools they might choose to do so through.
It is possible to try to be so healthy it becomes toxic. Things like constantly questioning if you are truly happy or looking for any possible trauma or unresolved issue to pin any objectionable aspect of one’s life or personality on when things are otherwise fine if not perhaps a bit boring. Or things like creating a view that if one isn’t meeting the steps of a specific process or school of thought…
It’s a touch like the dodgy issue in feminism concerning “what happens when a woman chooses to be a stay at home mother and support for their partner and truly enjoys or intuitively lives to a ‘traditIonal’ standard?”
If we want to empower people we need to empower them, not tell them the way they should do it, but give the tools and freedom and support to find the way they want to do it and then do that. That’s my thoughts anyway.
The fact you are there and the fact you care is more than a lot of kids get, so hopefully that counts for something and they realize it, now or someday at least.
Best holiday wishes to you and yours.