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ERIC Number: EJ1460187
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Mar
Pages: 7
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1750-8592
EISSN: EISSN-1750-8606
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Being Good and Feeling Good: What Happiness Means to Children
Child Development Perspectives, v19 n1 p38-44 2025
Happiness is one of the most important parenting goals in today's modern society. To promote a happy childhood, we need to understand what happiness means to children. Contrary to the view that young children may equate happiness with satisfying material desires and experiencing simple pleasures, in this article, I review recent developmental research showing that (1) even young children have a sophisticated understanding about the role of desire satisfaction in happiness, (2) they perceive happiness as contingent on moral goodness, and (3) they experience happiness from performing morally good behaviors. Together, the findings suggest that for children, happiness means more than feeling good about satisfying material desires and experiencing simple pleasures; it also means "being good" to oneself and others. This research deepens our understanding of children's emotional cognition and experience, elucidates the nature and origins of happiness, and has significant implications for fostering a happy childhood and beyond.
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Information Analyses
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A