Founder of Growing Happy Kids Speaks About Positive Parenting

 

Maureen Healy:    My background is psychology and Eastern thinking and I've worked for years with children on issues of their emotional health. They came to me with things that people had said to them that really shook both their confidence and the way they looked at the world. I realized the importance of what is said to children, because they begin creating their world through our words.

 

 

Maureen Healy:    The most surprising feedback I received was that most parents and adults started reading the book and realized that these are the things that they wanted to hear when they were young. It puts them in the right state of mind to raise their consciousness about how powerful their words are. It helps them cover all the bases – some things you may not have thought of to connect with your child.

 

 

Maureen Healy:    It was from my own life. I drew upon what inspired me, the things that I wanted to have said to me, as well as the things that I worked on with children. The book is based on Eastern and Western thinking, so the first section is empowering – it's a lot of confidence building. The second section is about educating your heart, emotional awareness, universal truths and social intelligences. The third segment is inspiration – whether it's art, nature, spirit, or whatever it is that inspires them. That's the framework. I had parents and teachers that I work with test drive the book and bring it into their classrooms and into their homes.

 

 

Maureen Healy:    I could talk for hours and days on it, but the most simple answer is that, oftentimes, Westerners say our culture looks for happiness outside of ourselves – we think the next car, the next boyfriend, the next house, whatever it may be, will makes us happy. And it does, temporarily. From an Eastern perspective, happiness is more of a state of mind. It’s about creating this place of inner peace within you, no matter what's going on on the outside.

 

 

Maureen Healy:    You can connect your child to whatever it is that sparks him or her and that helps connect them inward.

 

 

Maureen Healy:    I think it's extraordinary. As soon as a child begins to discover or re-discover that there is a place within them of calm and peace, then you train them how to go back there. Especially when they have these difficult choices to make in school – like, “Do I steal that pencil or not?” “Do I say a mean thing or not?” They have big choices the same way that we have big choices; they're just in a different format.

 

 

Maureen Healy:    Kids imprint what they see, so the happier and more content you are, the easier it will be for them. I think that the most important part is to be involved with your kids. Oftentimes, we're busy and use the television like a babysitter – and that's not necessarily bad if it’s a good show for the kids to learn from – but we're now putting reality TV on for elementary school kids. This is too young; they can't make sense of it. I had a recent situation where a parent called me because her 8-year old child was voted off the cafeteria table. They were reenacting a reality show. When you're young, you don't know the difference between imagination and real.

 

 

Maureen Healy:    Do something that's fun for you both. Raising kids is not supposed to be tedious. Although it's not easy, you're supposed to have fun. Life is supposed to be fun – it doesn’t have to cost money; a walk in the park would work.

 

 

Maureen Healy:     Keeping up with what's going on. Children today have different prejudices. They grow up a lot earlier; part of that is because of the television, our society and our culture. So, it's helping a young mind stay young, pure and innocent. Teach them things about generosity, compassion and forgiveness. Teach them to really develop themselves emotionally as well as mentally and socially. I think the challenge for parents is lack of time. It’s also the speed in which things progress. Try to keep the children connected to positive, youthful things, so they can really enjoy their childhood.

 

 

Maureen Healy:    I think that the key is helping them develop self-trust and confidence in themselves. When they trust themselves and they believe in who they are, it doesn't matter what’s happening on the outside. When they have those tools, they will be resistant to peer pressure, they will make smart choices, and they will learn how to navigate their emotions.

 

 

Maureen Healy:    You want to have a child with high self-esteem. That doesn't mean that they are going to do well in school; it doesn't mean that they need to be perfect; it doesn't mean that they need to fit in. Focus on building a child that feels good about who they uniquely are and what they bring to the world, versus how they're measured in school, in life, or wherever it is. We just want to raise happy kids.

 

Maureen Healy is the Founder of Growing Happy Kids, a worldwide organization focused upon fostering happiness in children. She was named a “Creative Activist” by Creative Visions Foundation and authored a “Peace Curriculum” for preschoolers, which is distributed worldwide by The Simha Foundation. Maureen has helped countless parents and teachers around the world raise happier kids.  Her work has launched programs in England, Africa and around the United States.

 

To purchase 365 Perfect Things to Say to Your Kids and to learn more about Maureen, visit her website