Creating a Happy Home 

by Diane Loomans
with Julia Loomans

Share ideas with your child on what a happy home is like, and act on some of those ideas more often.

In teaching parenting workshops, I have found that one of the most eye-opening activities has always been the Happy Home Interview. Parents go home and ask their children two simple questions: "What is a happy home like?" and "What makes our home feel good?" Consistently, parents come back amazed by the honesty and simplicity of the answers they receive from their children. The answers are usually about small, everyday things.

Almost never have children mentioned exotic trips, pools, large houses, or expensive clothes or toys. Instead, feeling good, encouragement, kindness, play, and connection with mom or dad are at the top of the list. 

Take the time to ask your child these two important questions. The answers may surprise you. 

Here are twenty-four ideas for creating a happy home, submitted by the children of parents from previous classes.

Twenty-Four Ideas About Creating a Happy Home

1. Hug More: "When I come home, my mom and dad hug me a lot. That's when my house feels happiest!" (Nora, age eight)

2. Create Special Moments: "My home is happy when my mom lights candles while we eat dinner." (Harvey, age ten)

3. Cook Together: "I like it when we cook something yummy together -- like cookies or bread -- and the house smells delicious!" (Robert, age nine)

4. Celebrate Art: "My house has a big refrigerator with kids' artwork and magnets all over it, and even some that fall off!" (Tobias, age five)

5. Express Affection: "I like it when Dad throws me up in the air and messes up my hair!" (Rebecca, age four)

6. Relax and Enjoy One Another: "We have lots of puppy piles -- all of us lie all over each other on the couch and laugh a lot." (Katrina, age eight)

7. Share Special Time Before Bed: "I like it when my mommy brushes my hair for a long time and sings songs to me at night before bed." (Beth, age four)

8. Play Games Together: "A home is happy when everybody has fun playing checkers or Monopoly and eats popcorn, too." (Jason, age thirteen)

continued:  
16 more Ideas About Creating a Happy Home

About The Author

Diane Loomans is the president of Global Learning in San Diego. She speaks nationally on the subjects of self-esteem, creativity, the power of laughter and play, and creating a positive future. Diane is the author of The Lovables in the Kingdom of Self Esteem, The Laughing Classroom: Everyone's Guide to Teaching With Humor and Play, Positively Mother Goose, and Today I Am Lovable.
Julia Loomans, now seventeen, wrote the excerpts for this book at fifteen and sixteen. She was twice selected to attend the Young Authors Conference and has won awards for her writing. She participates with her mother in presentations on self-esteem and is the co-author of Positively Mother Goose. This article was excerpted from the book "Full Esteem Ahead", ©1994, by Diane Loomans & Julia Loomans. Reprinted by permission of H J Kramer, P.O. Box 1082, Tiburon, CA. All rights reserved.

This article was excerpted from

Full Esteem Ahead: 100 Ways to Teach Values and Build Self-Esteem for All Ages
by Diane & Julia Loomans.
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