How to Develop Habits of Happy Kids Among Your Students?

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While the global poll shows that 53% of the population of the world is happy, only 1 in every 3 Americans are truly satisfied and content with their life. Happiness results in positivity. It nurtures your motivation to improve yourself, regulate the stress level, and be kind to others as well.

Scott Hughes who is an Education Ph.D. provides the simplest way to focus on students’ happiness. He says:

“It’s about kids before curriculum … when we start placing other considerations ahead of children — curriculum assessments, accountability measures — some unhappy experiences start to emerge.”

If you truly wish the happiness of your students, here are the different ways in which you can help them:

Freedom of Choice

The classrooms of today are student-based as they give complete authority to them in relying on problem-based learning and instruction differentiation. Successful teachers are inclined to cater to the strengths of their students by developing habits of happy kids: providing them with the opportunities to make choices.

Freedom has a greater influence on the life of students, especially teenagers, as compared to friends or parents. There are chances of mistakes under the influence of unlimited freedom. At times, they make themselves more vulnerable to danger if there is no check on their freedom so it is always a good idea to set certain limits beforehand.

Develop Curiosity

To incur the quality of curiosity in your students, you must develop the most crucial habit of happy kids: be curious yourself. Be a model for your students by showing interest in different people, ideas, cultures, and activities so that they are able to follow your suit. Ask them questions and let them inquire from you about various stuff because this will help in developing a certain level of comfort in the student-teacher relationship.

Always remember that the greatest of the questions are pointless if there is no active listening on your part. Give importance to what they are saying and be humble enough to cater to all their queries. When you are able to satisfy their quench as they seek various answers, their happiness will automatically heighten.

Explain Them Realities of Life

The students who are less responsive can be made to participate more by giving a dose of “real life” situations in the classroom. Try to practice some real-world research, for example, if you teach geography, you can take the class on a country trip and make them familiar with the weather and living conditions of the region.

Moreover, you can even think of inviting guest speakers who will talk about issues of the real world or share their own life experiences to ignite the interest of the students in the class. If the students are attentive, this definitely means that you’ve successfully developed habits of happy kids. 

Use Humor and Empathy

Who doesn’t like to have a good laugh? You must make use of opportunities to introduce humor in the class in an attempt to keep class atmosphere light. You can share a joke, a funny story, or might even come up with a silly prank so that your students can have some fun.

Also, try your utmost to be kind to them because if the students don’t feel supported, they can resort to the unthinkable options to find solace. It is better if they receive appreciation and compassion within their class because that will play a major role in saving them from a number of harmful habits and things.

Eat with Them

There is no better way to learn about the other person than to eat with them. This will make all your students truly happy as they would get to know more about you while opening up about themselves as well. Invest some time in learning about them as without getting to know them personally, there is no chance that you will be able to connect with them.

You can either decide to eat in groups or pick a student who’s eating alone so that they can join you for a bonded lunch. The ultimate benefit is that you will be able to spend time and enjoy the company of your students in an entirely different light. This is indeed the best ice-breaker to the start of a great student-teacher relationship.

You need to make sure that you leave your students nostalgic for the good old school days at their alma mater. By developing habits of happy kids, they will be satisfied and better individuals in the real world and this will help them in leading wonderful lives and successful human beings.