Raising happy, healthy and intelligent kids is definitely not an easy task. It requires a lot of effort from parents, teachers, mentors and the people around them. Not only that, it requires effort from the kids themselves.

Other factors that go into raising happy, healthy and intelligent kids are patience, understanding and other good habits which must be instilled. Raising a happy, healthy and intelligent kid is a gradual process that begins from young.

Happiness

To raise a happy child is not about providing him with all the things he asks for. This will only result in a spoilt kid. When a child is being obstinate over a certain matter, parents may become impatient and annoyed, and start scolding the child.

Parents should learn to have patience when handling such situations. They must learn how to put their foot down on matters without resorting to scolding. Parents are role models and as kids grow up, they are likely to follow their parents’ habits.

Quite a number of children have parents who are both busy working, and these children may grow up unhappy, grousing that their parents have little time for them.

Not spending quality time with kids may also result in worse consequence, where they get into bad company. Thus, quality time with kids as they grow is an important aspect.

Health

Raising a healthy kid is an important factor leading to her happiness. If a child is unhealthy, then it is quite natural that she will be unhappy. Parents
should ensure that their kid adopts good eating habits since young, and continue to do so as the child grows older.

Kids should also play or exercise actively. Besides being physically healthy, children must be mentally healthy. Parents should have occasional friendly chats with their child to know how their child is doing and feeling.

Many a time, kids hide their feelings and put up a false front in front of others. Parents or mentors should be kind and considerate, have friend-to-friend chats with the kids to understand how they can help.

Intelligence

Raising an intelligent kid may seem most difficult, but with a whole lot of effort from the kid, it is definitely possible. Pushing math, science, English, mother
tongue tuition, piano lessons, dance classes into a kid’s timetable is not only unreasonable, but will affect her intellectual development.

Parents should ask their child for her opinion about extra classes and the child should be given the chance to decide for herself from young. This helps the child feel better about herself. Having better self-esteem will
help the child boost confidence and she will strive for the best in any task that she takes on.

When a kid has too many activities scheduled, the kid will end up having a confused life, with restricted amount of time for schoolwork revision and selfreflection. Kids should set aside time to ponder over stuff, reflect on their actions, on the actions of others. Self-reflection is the beginning of critical thinking.

To be intelligent, critical thinking and an open mind is quite important. An intelligent kid should be able to think beyond what is expected of him. The right character also plays a vital role in the intelligence of a child.

Teaching the child the right values from start can build right character. When a very smart or clever child has bad character, the intelligence goes to waste. Therefore, intelligence is an issue of good character and critical thinking.

If both parents and kids cooperate and have a good relationship with each other, it will not be arduous to develop happy, healthy and intelligent kids.

Deepa Selvaraj, 13 years old