Tuesday Tip: Play with Some Friends

Science for Joyful Kids and Happier Parents

Raising Happiness

Tuesday Tip: Play with Some Friends

July 19, 2011 | Tuesday Tips | 0 comments

One thing you can do today to be happier.

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Playdates are not just for kids! When I’m feeling down and looking for a happiness pick-me-up, this is my go-to feel-better solution (maybe because my friends make me laugh).

Although I seek my friends out when I need to talk about a problem I’m having, sometimes we need to turn away from our difficulties for a little while and just play. In this case, seek out friends not to tell them all the reasons why you’ve been feeling badly, but rather to have some fun. The idea is to goof around a little.

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I’m Christine Carter, Ph.D, a sociologist and happiness expert at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. This blog is mostly science-based parenting advice: since I’m reading all the research related to raising happy children anyway, I thought we might as well make it useable to parents. My intention is to bring a scientific framing (what does the research actually say?) to our opinion-based parenting debates and advice. Sorting fact from fiction can be confusing when it comes to parenting.

This blog is also about me and my children. It represents the intersection of my brain and my heart: my intellectual training in the social sciences and my very real, sometimes raw, experiences as a mother.

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