Family happiness: our theme in December and January
What people who have overcome strokes of fate can teach us - and how parents and children can influence their happiness. Editor-in-chief Nik Niethammer introduces you to the Family Happiness dossier and other topics in the December/January double issue. The new magazine will be published on Thursday, 1 December 2022 and can also be ordered online.
Do you long for a happy life? Then I have good news for you: we have 40 per cent control over how happy we are. Our genes are responsible for 50 per cent of our happiness, and life circumstances are responsible for 10 per cent. This is the conclusion reached by the renowned American psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky in her bestseller «Glücklich sein».
The second piece of good news is that you can learn how to boost your happiness. However, if you want to increase your life satisfaction in the long term, you need patience, a plan - and a little luck.
In this dossier «Family happiness», psychologists Fabian Grolimund and Stefanie Rietzler take us on a search for happiness. What makes families happy? What can parents do to make their child happy? How important are friends for a child's happiness?
«A family is happy when everyday life is organised in such a way that the needs of all members are satisfied for the most part,» write the authors. You can read why the slogan «crisis as an opportunity» is useless, how families can find their way back to happiness after difficult times and how «mental subtraction» can increase happiness in our latest dossier Family happiness.
Especially when we are actually doing well, there is a danger that we will miss out on our happiness.
Fabian Grolimund and Stefanie Rietzler, psychologists and authors
Then I would definitely like to recommend a text by Evelin Hartmann to you. In an interview with child and adolescent psychiatrist Oliver Bilke-Hentsch, my colleague explores the question of why mental illness is on the rise among children.
Part of the expert's answer surprised me: «There are social classes who would rather discover a disorder in their children than admit that they need to change their parenting behaviour, for example by becoming more consistent, setting clearer rules and entering into conflicts with their child,» says Bilke-Hentsch. «For these parents, it's simply easier to say, «My child has ADHD or is autistic», so the problem is localised outside the family and can be explained socially or biologically.»
Finally, I want to inspire you with a text that made my heart beat faster: «All we need as parents is the will to learn as much from our children as they learn from us», writes the Danish family therapist Jesper Juul, who sadly died far too early, in his wonderful column «What children need». The amazing thing about this text: Juul wrote it in spring 2016. More than six years later, it is as relevant as ever.
On behalf of the editorial team and publisher, I would like to thank you for your loyalty this year. I wish you and your loved ones many exciting insights with this double issue. And a peaceful Christmas. Have a good start to 2023 and stay hopeful.
Sincerely,
Yours, Nik Niethammer
