Stating that an innate characteristic of an individual is a sense of curiosity, experts said that children enjoy learning and exploring.
Noting that one of the most important ways to be happy is to discover new things, experts said, "The more fun the brain has, the more it learns. When we enjoy it, we reinforce that behavior."
Specialist Clinical Psychologist Leyla Arslan from Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital said that children are curious to learn and explore as an innate feature.
THE MOST IMPORTANT WAY TO BE HAPPY IS TO EXPLORE
Noting that children enjoy learning and discovering the world and are happy as a result, Arslan said: "This is joy for them. It is also the greatest happiness, and this is the same for adults. In other words, one of the most important ways to be happy is to discover new things. When this is prevented, children become unhappy, their development stops, their productivity slows down and their mental health deteriorates. Their psychological well-being suffers. In this case, success, social contribution and productivity cannot be expected from children. Therefore, it is important that children are happy and that their innate spontaneity is preserved. Whatever prevents this must be eliminated."
Leyla Arslan stated that families sometimes consciously or unconsciously prevent children from exploring and said, "How do they prevent it? They expect the child to do things above their power, that is, they expect the child to do things at a higher level without taking their developmental level seriously. This increases anxiety in children, damages their self-confidence and therefore their happiness.
BLOCKING THE CHILD DAMAGES SELF-CONFIDENCE
Stating that some families knowingly or unknowingly make mistakes in the child's development process, Arslan said that constantly preventing the child damages his/her self-confidence:
"In other words, they think that the child must be afraid of someone, they think that the child must be punished. They think that there must be someone who prevents the child. Sometimes fathers can assign that role to themselves. This is a situation that damages children's self-confidence, damages their personalities and damages their learning. The truth is to raise the child with love, to understand the next step before the child and to take them there in a fun way. Because we know that the more fun the brain has, the more it learns, so when we enjoy it, we reinforce that behavior and so on and so on. If we constantly restrict the child, if we make them unhappy, their learning slows down, and in some children, their stance in life also slows down. When they become adults, they develop a depressive personality. They don't know how to laugh and have fun."
Leyla Arslan pointed out that physical education, music and art classes are not taken very seriously in the education system and said, "However, these classes are very important. If they are done in a real sense, it is seen that these lessons contribute to human beings. Thanks to these lessons, children develop the ability to express themselves."
UNHAPPY CHILDREN CAN GROW UP TO BE DEPRESSED
Stating that unhappy children become unhappy individuals when they become adults, Leyla Arslan said, "They develop depressive personalities, they take life too seriously. Yes, they can produce something, but it won't mean much to them, so they won't be satisfied."
Stating that psychiatric problems are affected by environmental factors as well as biological predisposition, Leyla Arslan said, "It is not possible to talk about a happy child raised by an unhappy woman. Some negative events in the environment, changes in education, expecting something that the child cannot do or making the child do the opposite of what he/she wants to do can negatively affect the child's mental development. Children read emotions correctly. We must be happy first so that children can be happy. A happy child grows up in a happy society."