What makes kids happy? What do you do with your kids that they enjoy doing?
Sometimes it can be just the simplest things. Just spending time with them. You don’t always have to do something with them, as long as they know you are there.
I was inspired to write this post from an article on Babble where a teacher asked her students what makes them happy. She buys a white dress and has her students draw what makes them happy on the dress.
Below are 6 ways that makes kids happy.
6 Ways to Make Kids Happy
1. Cuddle together. While my oldest daughter, Katie, is in school, Sophia and Elizabeth love to watch cartoons in the morning. There are some mornings they just need some extra cuddles and need to sit on the couch with them. Elizabeth also loves to cuddle at night time on the couch with me to relax and fall asleep.
2. Play interactive games together. My girls love to play hide and seek and they especially love it when we hide too. Elizabeth hid with me the other day in the entryway closet and she was giggling inside when daddy found Sophia before her. Then she hid with daddy underneath a blanket and she was as quite as a mouse. My girls also love playing ‘Monster Soup.’ My husband is the monster and he grabs our girls and throw them into his soup. They have so much fun playing and try to escape from his monster soup and go after him. Katie and Sophia also love playing Mario Kart with daddy. They love that extra special bonding time with him.
3. Reading books together. We have a collection of books to chose from to read. There are always a select few that are their favorites and they are read more than others. You can read what Elizabeth’s favorite children books are here. We enjoy reading new books that Katie checks out from the library at school and finding new books from Scholastic Books at her school.
4. Just being in the same room as you. My girls sometimes like to join me in the kitchen while I’m doing dishes or cooking. They’ll help me wash dishes, take care of the dishwasher, cook lunch/dinner, or just be in the room playing toys or a game on the iPad. You can check out some memories we have in the kitchen here.
5. Go for a special date together. While my older two daughters were at school, my husband and I took our youngest, Elizabeth to Burger King to get a cheeseburger. Cheeseburgers are her favorite. I also took my girls on a special lunch date at the American Girl Bistro back in September. My girls even love to go to Target or Barnes & Noble.
6. Get a special treat together. One of my girls’ favorite treats are cake pops from Starbucks. They love to get one through the drive thru or before we go shopping at Target. My girls also love to get frozen yogurt together. Their favorite part is adding the toppings. My husband and I asked Katie what she wanted to do the other day and she said she wanted ice cream. So we ended up going to Target to buy french vanilla ice cream along with chocolate syrup. Katie ended up putting lots of toppings on her ice cream. She sure loves her treats. Sophia just wanted couple toppings. She ate some of the ice cream and then Elizabeth finished her ice cream.
These are only few things that make my girls happy. What makes your kids happy? What are you going to be doing with your kids to have that special time together?
This post is part of a post series called Life of Parenthood, which is on the subject of parenting. I’ll talk about any adventures we have with our girls to motherhood experiences to fun and games for children to featuring mommy bloggers.
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Great post and so much truth on what makes kids happy. They just want your attention and to feel loved and secure. You’re doing it well.
Thanks Carrie! The fun we can do with our kids is limitless. Tomorrow we are going to have a girls day and paint our nails.
You’re so right, it doesn’t have to be extravagant, just being with them is really important!
Sometimes I let my girls pick what they want to do.
cuddling is my 4 year olds favorite! It totally makes him happy, too 🙂
Most kids definitely love to cuddle. Glad he loves cuddling with you!
Yes…I agree. What cute kids too!!
Thanks so much!
playing games together with the kids are always great.
We have couple board games and several card games that we play with our girls. We definitely need to grow our game selections.
Love this! I am big on raising my kids with as little stuff and junk as possible- just playing with/ spending time with you is most important!
I agree! Sometimes I ask my girls what they want to do and then we do that. We may play a game, play with playdough, etc.
My daughter loves to cuddle and my son loves to play together. Having dates is important for us too. I need to take them for frozen yogurt soon. We love this kind of posts! Thanks
Frozen yogurt dates definitely coming in the Spring and Summer. Glad you liked the post!
This is such a great post! Kids just want to belong and be loved. I love all your ideas!
Thanks! Glad you liked it!
My babies love cuddle time and so do I. It gives us time to unwind and reconnect at the end of the day.
I love cuddling with my girls. There are times in the afternoon when I cuddle with them, I’ll accidentally fall asleep since I was tired.
I love this post! It’s just about making sure they know you care, in the simplest of ways!
Thanks! They just want to spend time with you, no matter what it is.
These are adorable ideas, and very relatable! My boys love doing similar things–especially cuddles, story time, and roughhousing with daddy. 😉 I love that you play interactive video games with them, too! We’re a gamer family as well; I really think it can be a great bonding tool when used communally and in moderation.
Glad you like them! Special bonding time with Daddy is so important. They love that time with him.
My little guy LOVES cuddling, even though he is getting bigger, he still loves his morning cuddles!
Those morning cuddles are always the best!