I saw a link to this study on another blog and found it fascinating.  What makes people truly happy?

 Turns out that it isn’t “stuff” or money; the study has revealed that the happiest people surround themselves with family and friends, don’t care about keeping up with the Joneses next door, lose themselves in daily activities and, most important, forgive easily… the happiest people spend the least amount of time alone.

It all seems logical reading about the study, but how many of us  play the if-only game inside our head.  I would be happy if only I lost 10 pounds.  I would be happy if  only I get that promotion at work.  I would be happy if  only I had more money. When really none of those things are going to dramatically change our lives and make us happier.  This would explain why lottery winners don’t end up having lives that are any happier than they were before they won.

How do we model happiness for our children?  I have been thinking a lot about this.  The study revealed that everyone has a certain set point for happiness that is genetically determined, but that the way each individual chooses to live their  life determines their actual level of happiness. 

Do I make a conscious effort not to attach happiness to material things?  Or am I falling into that consumerism trap?  Do they see me taking joy in the little things, the things that really matter?  Do I show  them how happy they make  me?  Or how much the laughter with my friends  means to me?

Because above all else in this  life, I want my children to grow  up to be happy and content adults.

When my oldest children were young I read to them every single night.  We had a very strict routine as well as a very firm bedtime. I was a fan of the routine and schedule.  Some people might have accused me of being overly tied to it.  But I did not care.  Come 7:00 pm, my kids were bathed, pajamed, read to, and tucked into their beds.  And the rest of the evening was mine to enjoy in peace and quiet.

Now the I have older children, who often have evening activities, many days we do not sit down to eat dinner until 8:30pm.  Sometimes, it is even later.  Bedtime routines are virtually non-existent, even for my four and five year old.  We never have time for bedtime stories anymore. 

Now this doesn’t mean I don’t read to my children, I do.  In fact I would say that we read quite a bit, but at bedtime?  No.

According to a study in Great Britain, three quarters of British parents say they are too busy to read bedtime stories to their children.

While 95 per cent of parents have read to their children at some point, only five per cent of those polled read to their children during the day.

More than one in ten said they read every couple of weeks or less, and five per cent could not remember the last time they shared a book.

I have to admit that I am shocked by these statistics.  Ten percent only read to their children every couple  of weeks?  And five percent can not remember the last time they read to their children?  That is unbelievable.

I had a friend who worked in early childhood education tell me that she was initially shocked  by the number of children who would come to school the first day and have no idea what to do with a book or how to hold it.  Children who had obviously never been read to.  Books and reading are such a huge part of my life that I can not even fathom this. 

When we recently moved the moving men told me that they had never before seen a family with so many books.  It made me oddly proud, since most of them belong to my children and have been read.

So what about you?  Do you have a bedtime routine that involves reading bedtime stories?  Or do you do your reading at other times of the day?  As I typed this I just began wondering if I worked outside of the home and wasn’t here with my little ones all day if I would make the time for bedtime reading.