Personally, I think we have to define the three terms first.
First, in my opinion, a child is only happy with enough care and concern from his/ her family, has freedom and, most importantly, finds interest in life.

Second, a child needs a healthy environment in which to be brought up so as not to be negatively influenced. Also, he/she needs to be physically healthy. As for being intelligent, I feel it’s kind of personal. It really depends on the potential each child has; although parents have the responsibility of realizing their children’s talents’ and developing them.

Now, here are some ways that I think are necessary to raise a happy, healthy and intelligent kid.

Out of the three attributes, happiness is the most important. Even if a child is sickly or not exactly smart but is still living his/her life to the fullest and is happy, I think that is a great achievement.

Freedom above all

The key factor to whether a child will be happy is freedom. As a child grows up, he/she wants more privacy and freedom. He/she will want to hang out
more with friends than spend time with parents. If the parents refuse their kids freedom, it’s only natural they will become rebellious and ill natured.

While it’s undeniable that whatever parents do are usually good intentioned, they have to put themselves in the shoes of their children and ask themselves if they would be happy if their parents did not give them any
freedom.

Personally, my parents have given me a lot of freedom and I think I am happy because of that. Among my friends and I, we will occasionally talk about parents and they usually envy me as it seems their parents
are very strict with them and do not give them any freedom.

Yet, I find the easiest way for anyone to grow up and understand something is to experience it. Parents, by restricting their kids, are trapping them inside a cage and not giving them any space to grow and experience the world.

Family environment matters

Following this, there is emotional and physical health. I feel good emotional and physical health can only be achieved by having a caring family, with
parents showing concern for their children. In cases of single-parent or low income families, children are more susceptible to negative impacts that come from their less privileged surroundings.

However, I believe that even with emotional burdens or financial difficulties, children can still be healthy if the parents and children work together. Personally, I come from a very healthy environment with very little negative
influences and I have to thank my parents for that.

Developing talent and interests

Lastly, raising an intelligent child. This is very subjective but I am sure that every child has his/her talent in a specific area. This is where the parents come in – they need to find out their child’s particular talents and help develop them, be it in music, art or sports or anything else. The sooner parents discover the talent of their children, the faster they can develop it.

Of course, kids never like to study and read but it is important to expose them to a variety of knowledge to find out where their talent lies.

Besides talent, we have to consider the kid’s interest to complement with ‘raising a happy child’ as a child will only be happy if he’s doing what he likes. For example, I was exposed to music at a young age and particularly
liked Chinese music. I probably have some talent for it and, right now, I am happy in my CCA in the Chinese Orchestra.

Ultimately, how happy, healthy and intelligent a child can be raised up to be boils down to the amount of effort parents are willing to put in and whether they actually respect their children or not.

Some parents may put in a lot of effort but they are too stubborn and obstinate, always thinking they are right and not respecting their children’s wishes nor taking into account the feelings and thoughts of their children.

If parents try and put themselves into their child’s shoes and look at things from their perspective, I am quite sure they will become great parents.

Sng Zheng, 14 years old