Strollerderby : happiness

They Say: Fast-Food Ads Contribute to Child Obesity

Kate Tuttle — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:31:00 GMT

A new study published in the Journal of Law and Economics links obesity rates to the amount of fast-food ads kids see when watching television. Unlike other studies, which have suggested a connection between time spent watching TV and obesity, the new research looks solely at the fast-food advertising and its effect on kids' weight problems. Despite criticism from business spokespeople that the study used old data from the 1990s, before McDonalds and Burger King changed their advertising practices, the study's authors are pushing for a reduction in the tax-deduction status of such marketing messages.

From the New York Times article:

Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy, said reliable estimates of television’s impact on childhood obesity are hard to calculate because of the many assumptions statisticians must make. "That said, food marketing is a blight on the landscape of our children and has been shown time and again to have a negative impact," he added.

It's hard to argue with that, though I wonder whether we're putting too much emphasis on what's on the TV rather than the choice to use it at all. As a second Times article points out in reporting on another study, the chief difference in how happy people spend their time versus unhappy people (as self-reported by study participants) is that they watch less television. I'm as guilty as the next mother of occasionally turning to the electronic babysitter, but it's a good reminder that turning off the tube has myriad benefits for our kids' mental health, not just their weight.

Biological Father of Madonna's Adopted Son Very Concerned

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:30:00 GMT

Yohana Banda, the biological father of Madonna’s adopted son David, is very worried about the boy's happiness. Although Banda and his second wife live simply in a thatched hut in Malawi, he thinks that three-year-old David may be happier living with him than with the most famous woman in the world.

Banda put David up for adoption after his first wife, David’s biological mother, died from complications in childbirth. He hoped that David would have a better life in the U.S., but, he says, “Now I see him in a big bewildering crowd in the street with people pushing and shoving, and many cameras around, and without a mother and father to hold his hand. I’m feeling bad for him.”

Madonna’s divorce from Guy Ritchie has strengthened Banda’s concerns about David’s welfare. “This is a new and terrible thing to happen to him. I am too upset to think clearly,” Banda said.

Although this is clearly a unique case, Banda's concern raises interesting questions about the rights of biological parents to be involved in their children’s lives after adoption. Naturally, Banda cannot know what David’s private family life is really like without personal contact from Madonna. Do you think Madonna has an obligation to reassure Banda of David’s happiness, or are her family’s decisions none of his business?

Photo: Celebpick's Weblog

Spirituality, Fun Times Key to Kids' Happiness

Amy Kuras — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:57:00 GMT

What makes your kids happy?

That can be a baffling question, sometimes. There are days when just waking up in the morning seems to thrill my daughter to bits, and others when we could offer her unlimited Elmo and an ice cream buffet while all her friends visit for a playdate and it would not do the trick. As for my son, he's three months old and discovering the fact he has toes makes him squeal with joy.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia actually looked into this, and found that spirituality – as opposed to religion, I might add – accounted for 8 to 17 percent of a child's happiness. Leisure activities, such as sports, and the child's innate temperament also accounted for a great deal.

Money, the parent's marital status, and the child's gender accounted for less than one percent of a child's happiness.

Researchers hoped that by finding out what made children happy, they could help develop coping mechanisms for when they are facing difficult times.

The study was conducted with 315 children ages 9 through 12 in Kelowna, British Columbia. Children were asked to rate the importance of various statements to their happiness. Parents and teachers were also asked about each child's apparent happiness levels.

This is part of a newish branch of psychology called "positive psychology"—or, the study of happiness.

Budget Baby: Making Saving a Habit

Amy Kuras — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:05:00 GMT

We all know we should start saving –recession looms, possible layoffs, plus living paycheck to paycheck just sucks.

But unfortunately, so does saving. It's such a drag, especially when we live in such a rabidly consumer culture. We're encouraged to define ourselves by possessions and you can’t pick up a magazine, turn on the TV or even surf the web without product come-ons.

Now, I wouldn’t have a job if that were not the case –somebody has to finance the sparkling prose you read here on the 'Derby, for one – but defining ourselves through our stuff isn’t making anybody any happier and means we're going to have a lot of peers suffering through retirement with $200 diaper bags they can't trade in for prescriptions.

As this Wall Street Journal column (which I found via Consumerist) says, many of us are reining in our spending what with gas prices (I paid $3.95 a gallon this morning, yikes) and rising grocery costs. But retailers are soon going to be offering "recession deals," if they aren’t already which may prove irrestible and continue to get us in financial trouble if we don't learn to shut off the little voice whispering "more stuff" and accept some discomfort now for a more comfortable future.

There's no fix but to redefine what makes us happy.

The first suggestion is the best –spend less time feeing poor. Stay out of the mall and quit perusing catalogs or their online equivalents. I also like that they counsel weighing splurges versus cutting them out entirely.The others are good too, and mostly revolve around replacing consumer activities with more emotionally satisfying, no-cost things.

That's advice we can all use, whether we're hurting financially or not.

They Say: Your Stuff Does't Make You Happy

Madeline Holler — Sat, 03 May 2008 18:36:00 GMT

Bad news for "retail therapy" seekers everywhere: more stuff won't make you happy. At least, not for very long.

This feels like old news, but it's probably worth repeating the results of a new study anyway. Especially since we're not getting richer, food and gas cost more and we're likely in -- or entering into -- a recession.

Here's the deal: we apparently get used to our stuff rather quickly and it stops making us happy. Although, the same study found that stuff CAN make you happy, it's just up to you to keep appreciating it.

"Simply having a bunch of things is not the key to happiness," [one researcher] says in a statement. "Our data show that you also need to appreciate those things you have. It's also important to keep your desire for things you don't own in check."

Turns out, wanting what you have and having what you want are completely separate things, both of which affect our psychologies.

What do you think? Does shopping boost your mood? Does it last? What do you want that you're just sure is going to make you happy? What do you have that no longer makes you happy?

Photo:

Spiritual Beliefs Make Kids Happy

Karen Murphy — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:27:00 GMT

What makes kids happy?

For most parents, this is an all-consuming question as we fight to create a good life for our kids and make sure they have the tools they need for a good life. We know that "stuff" doesn't make them happy, inasmuch as the sellers of "stuff" would like us to think it does. So what does? Knowing the family has a lot of money? Having a nice house? Having an intact nuclear traditional family? Nope. It's this: it's having an inner set of beliefs that guide them through life. It's being internally grounded and knowing they have choices in life.

Heavy stuff for kids? Not exactly. 315 children age 9 to 12 in public and private schools were questioned about their happiness, rating the importance of statements like, "I believe a higher power watches over me." And in addition to engagement in sports and recreational activities and having a generally sunny temperament, the thing that came up most conclusively with kids who were happier is that they had a strong sense of spirituality.

Kind of like having their own personal Good Dog Carl.

Photo: gooddogcarl.com

Researchers Say Young Kids Don't Make You Happier; Parents Say, "Duh"

Kelly Mills — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:28:00 GMT

A new study has found that when it comes to a sense of satisfaction with life, it's your job that makes you feel good, not your kids. Men reported the highest rates of happiness when they had a full-time job, and women with kids were just happy with any hours worked. But young kids? Did not make folks any happier. Hmmm, why would going to a job where you can actually accomplish things all productive-like make us feel more satisfied than having children, whose very existence thwarts all productivity and who can manage to make even the most high-powered take charger feel inadequate? Plus, when you compare the pay scales for the two... Gee, I have no idea.

Actually, it wasn't just that people reported kids did not increase their contentment: In fact, the lowest rates of satisfaction were reported by women with kids under the ages of 3-4, and men with kids under 5 were least stoked. In other words, having li'l rugrats makes us less happy, at least until they go off to school. Know what I think? Between sleeplessness, tantrums, battles over getting dressed and biting other kids at the park, and the need to actually do things with a recalcitrant child or two in tow, well, parenting is HARD. But of course we loooove the little demons, and if you can survive those early years, I think it does get better and eventually more satisfying. Either that or go out and get a real full-time job for some break time.

Study: Teens Like Friends

Amy Kuras — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 00:05:00 GMT

Kids today...with their MySpace and their texting and their fancy cell phones. Turns out that while the methods they use to connect have changed, teens and young adults today still place a high value on relationships.

A survey of more than 2400 12-to-24-year-olds released earlier this year by Social Techologies and MTV found that 85 percent of them said that relationships with friends make them happy, while only 73 percent said the same about relationships with romantic partners.

Surprisingly, parents rank pretty high up there too.

Almost three quarters of the youth surveyed said their relationships with their parents made them happy, while only 42 percent said their parents "stress them out a little." Half mentioned at least one of their parents as a hero. But only 30 percent said they felt their parents gave them the right amount of attention -- but whether they wanted less or more, the survey didn't say.

Young people also didn't draw much distinction between friendships made online and friendships made in the real world, and most said using the Internet made them happier.

Inertesting though this insight into the mind of youth is -- has there ever been a generation of teens that didn't value their friends, latch onto the technoloogy of the time and secretly kind of didn't mind their parents?

The whole survey can be found here: http://www.socialtechnologies.com/MTV.aspx

Blue Moms Can Get Happy

Kelly Mills — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:01:00 GMT

I make no secret of being a big ol' whiner. But when one mom found herself driving over the complain-y cliff, she opted to have a DHD: a Determinedly Happy Day. While the idea gave me the heebie jeebies at first, I read on and saw how she basically wrote out a nice little list of good things, called a "gratitude list" in some circles. Stuff like, "My pediatrician recently switched genders and apparently didn’t lose any customers because of it." She also reveled in the critical mass of local Harry Potter parties, and coming up with a kickass quilt design. I like, I like.

I suppose if I made such a list, it would include stuff like the joy that is "Flight of the Conchords," the mom I know who is going to surf with her family after being taken out a couple years ago by double knee surgeries, and the blue mules I'll buy later today. (Royal blue, and to die for.) Although my one other advice for overcoming the whines: make your troubles funny. When good writers do this, it brings me and people like me so much joy.

Single Women Happier than Married Women with Children?

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:50:00 GMT

Are you a married woman with children, aspiring scientist who occasionally finds it difficult to achieve orgasm? You are less happy than your single counterparts, according to two recent studies from New Zealand and Australia.

The fact that women in traditionally male professions still have great difficulty balancing work and family life shouldn't come as any surprise. What is surprising, though, is how few women in science, engineering, and technology have kids or are able to find any balance once they do. I found it at once heartening and discouraging that the women of Australia face similar work-life balance issues.

And then the orgasm study, which found 56% of sexually active single women could reach orgasm easily, while only 24% of their married counterparts could. Interesting though this data may be, I think it's more a function of the age and stage of participants (ranging in age from 40 to 80) than any declaration about those damn husbands and their interference with sexual pleasure.

No one said being a married woman with children would be easy. But some days some of us wish it didn't have to be this hard.

The Simple Life: Join The Circle If You Dare

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 17:00:00 GMT

According to the New Road Map Foundation, more Americans than ever before would like to "live a more relaxed life" versus a fast-paced exciting one. And more people are interested in returning to a simpler society with "less emphasis on material wealth." That Americans report working more, spending less time with their families, and feeling less happy comes as no surprise to those who believe the answer lies in cutting back, chilling out, and living a more simple lifestyle.

Those of you not living amongst hippies on the West Coast may not have heard of the Voluntary Simplicity Movement that started in the early 80s as a result of the book Voluntary Simplicity and eventually spawned "simplicity circles" --gatherings of people meeting together to discuss ways to simplify their lives and provide an alternative to mindless consumerism. That Washington State has twice as many simplicity circles as New York State, despite a population 1/3rd as large should come as no surprise to any of you familiar with our whimsical ways out West.

I attended one of these circles a few years ago, while on a second date with a very poor and in-debt second grade math teacher. He was hot, so I agreed to go along ---and bought a new outfit for the occasion. We met in his friend's apartment (the Simpletons, as I called them, preferred not to waste money meeting at restaurants or cafes), which was, predictably, modestly filled with used furniture of significant sentimental value. And then we colored. In coloring books. And talked about the ways in which we'd escaped material culture that week. Rob reported resisting the urge to buy lunch, packing his brown bag instead. Christy happily said that she and her husband had recently discovered the joy of thrift stores. Other people shared their tales of simplicity, but I was too busy admiring my darling new red shoes and imagining the fun I'd have later teaching math-boy a thing or two.

And while I profane the Circle and its intentions for purposes of the Derby, I respect the efforts to cut back and simplify. I just don't practice them particularly well myself -- unless there's a hot math teacher involved.