FITCH

happy

February 22, 2013

All Joy and No Fun – Why parents hate parenting

There was a day a few weeks ago when I found my 2½-year-old son sitting on our building doorstep, waiting for me to come home. He spotted me as I was rounding the corner, and the scene that followed was one of inexpressible loveliness, right out of the movie I’d played to myself before actually having a child, with him popping out of his babysitter’s arms and barreling down the street to greet me. This happy moment, though, was about to be cut short, and in retrospect felt more like a tranquil lull in a slasher film. – Read More –
February 22, 2013

Does Pursuing Our Passions Really Make Us Happier?

The Declaration of Independence may guarantee the pursuit of happiness, but, as we all know, landing the prize is a different story. It’s a winding road through the options we’re given. Buying stuff, status, wealth, popularity, the refrigerator, the medicine cabinet — all the standbys have failed to get the job done. What really works, though, is something that wouldn’t cross most of our overproductive minds: a passion or a hobby. – Read More –

February 21, 2013

Children Make You Happier, If Someone Else Does Most of the Work

For years now, studies have been coming out showing the impact that having children has on one’s happiness is negative, delighting the willfully childless who have long suspected parents who bully us about our unwillingness to reproduce are just misery seeking company. Attempts to minimize these findings, such as suggesting that happiness is less important than finding meaning in life, haven’t really worked their magic on us childless freaks, probably because it’s not really that hard to think of other ways to occupy your time and give your life meaning that don’t involve diapers or sticky fingers. But the urge to pressure the childless will not go away so easily, which is why there was a flurry of excitement over an anomalous study recently released that showed that parents are happier than nonparents. – Read More –

Newer