Cheerful kids are intelligent kids.
It has been the continuous endeavor of parents to make their kids as cheerful as possible. In the process we do many things starting from buying unlimited clothing and expensive toys to allow them to spend countless hours in mobile phones and television. By doing this, we definitely bring smiles on their faces, but for a limited period of time. With the passage of time their preferences change to be happy and so also their demand. In a naught cell, most of the times, we do only to bring a temporary happiness and cheerfulness in our kids. Lasting happiness and cheerfulness is something different and needs more efforts from parents to inculcate among the kids.
The notable American educator and author of children stories, Kate Douglas Wiggin said that “If you make children happy now, you will make them happy twenty years hence by the memory of it.”
Therefore the expensive toys and unlimited designer clothing may not be the ideal for a lasting memory. The trouncing laughter, the untiring dancing with your kid, the long nights of storytelling, the messing up in the kitchen while trying to bake a cake are definitely the activities that would last for a life time. To make such things happen, we along with our kids must be in our best of physical, emotional and psychological health and wellbeing.
Your child might insist that playing endless hours of on mobile phone makes her/him happy. But too much screen time is bad for your child’s psychological well-being. Again spending time on video game may be a temporary stimuli and not a lasting one.
Every house we create a culture and this culture is largely a determinant for the lasting happiness and cheerfulness of the child. The household culture is created by three major components;
- The way we perceive a situation. A situation may be painted as good, bad or ugly.
- Social activities and culture at home and close environment like healthy eating, regular exercise, productive use of time etc
- Exposure to positive attributes or character traits like courage, considerateness, empathy etc.
Therefore the above three will determine how many lasting evidences we create for our child to be cheerful today and the years to come.
In our busy schedule, it is definitely difficult to evaluate how consciously we build our culture at home which would be having a definite impact on our kids. But the level of cheerfulness in your kid will tell you the whole story. You must be eager to check the level of cheerfulness in your kid. Is not it?
We at Adiuvaret kids developed a screening tool to evaluate the level of cheerfulness in your kid. Please check it out.
How to use this tool;
There are 10 questions listed in the tool. All the questions are related to the situations which are typical daily situations which you witness in your kid. Each of the questions has 4 possible answer.
Each of the possible answer has a score attached to it as follows;
Possible Answer to the Questions Score
Category A 10
Category B 8
Category C 6
Category D 4
Now you may go ahead to do the test for yourself. Readout the questions given in column 1 of the table and answer the queries by selecting appropriate options. You may circle the appropriate options for each of the questions.
The Screening tool on measuring the level of cheerfulness
The following checklist would help us to evaluate the level of cheerfulness in our kids. We can also identify the major components which contribute to the happiness and cheerfulness of the kids.
|
Questions |
Category A |
Category B |
Category C |
Category D |
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How many times/ occasions your kid laughed loudly yesterday? |
5 or more Times |
3-5 Times |
1-2 Times |
0 Times |
|
|
How many times your kid has made others laugh yesterday |
5 or more Times |
3-5 Times |
1-2 Times |
0 Times |
|
|
How many times your kid has complained about teachers/others kids/ other persons or things at home or at school |
0 Times |
1-2 Times |
3-5 Times |
5 or more Times |
|
|
How many times your kid has said “Thank you” or expressed the sense of gratitude for anything or to anyone yesterday |
5 or more Times |
3-5 Times |
1-2 Times |
0 Times |
|
|
How many times your kid has identified good things or positive things at home/at school/ or at park or playground and shared with you yesterday |
5 or more Times |
3-5 Times |
1-2 Times |
0 Times |
|
|
How many times your kid has resisted or show strong signal of resisting to anything or anyone (like eating food/ going to school/ going to park/ getting up on time/ obeying an instruction from you etc.) yesterday |
0 Times |
1-2 Times |
3-5 Times |
5 or more Times |
|
|
How many times your kid has witnessed a conflict or fight (minor or major) between you and your spouse in last week?
|
0 Times |
1-2 Times |
3-5 Times |
5 or more Times |
|
|
How many times your kid has sought your time (asking to spend time with her/him) in the last week?
|
5 or more Times |
3-5 Times |
1-2 Times |
0 Times |
|
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How many social and emotional skills like writing their own name, button and unbuttoning, tying of shoe less, new craft by using paper or colour, sharing food with others, playing with other kids etc., your child has learned or showing high enthusiasm to learn in last one month?
|
5 or more |
3-5 |
1-2 |
0 |
|
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How many times your child has shown you something she/he has accomplished in last month?
|
5 or more Times |
3-5 Times |
1-2 Times |
0 Times |
|
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Calculate total score |
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TOTAL SCORE |
Total No of Category (Count the total circles above) |
(multiply with) |
Total Score |
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|
Category A |
|
*10 |
= |
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|
Category B |
|
* 8 |
= |
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|
Category C |
|
*6 |
= |
||
|
Category D |
|
*4 |
= |
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|
Final Score |
Add all above = |
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Results and interpretation
After answering all the questions, add all the score (the circled ones) to get the total score. This can be done in the tool itself. Please refer the bottom of the above tool to calculate the total score.
You may interpret the score as follows;
Score and Interpretation
Above 80 : he level of happiness is very high in your kid. She/he is very cheerful and would remain cheerful and intelligent always.
Between 60 and 80 :The level of happiness is moderately high in your kid. She/he is very moderately cheerful and would remain cheerful and intelligent most of the time
Between 40 and 60 :The level of happiness is low in your kid. She/he needs your attention to be more happy and cheerful in life. You may further evaluate each of the above question and identify the areas of improvement accordingly.
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