Most kids, just like their parents, believe in the pursuit of happiness.
Can you imagine kids that don't? It's perfectly natural for kids to chase after happiness.
So, the big question is how do you catch happiness? Do you use a big butterfly net? I guess not.
Being happy is a choice we make.
Some kids live in poor environments.
Their parents have trouble just keeping food on the table and shelter over their heads.
I am not thinking of those kids when I say that happiness is a choice.
The challenge in poor circumstances is rather high, if not impossible.
For a large part of the kid population in the United States, happiness is still a choice.
That is, kids with food, shelter, and loving parents only have one major obstacle in feeling happy most of the time.
It's themselves! It's just that they haven't figured out how to be happy.
For many kids it's an elusive secret.
People, whether young or old, love being around others who are good natured and passionate about important activities such as music, sports, movies, video games, and so on.
People love being around others who have strong interests in wholesome activities.
And the pursuit of happiness becomes even easier if you strive to bring out the best in others.
Begin by loving something wholesome! I'm talking about having hobbies and special interests.
Join clubs.
Sign up for sports of your choice.
Put yourself out on the playing field.
Discover what you truly like doing.
Kids excited about music, dance, pets, sports, books, arts and crafts are fun kids.
All I have to do is walk down a few houses from my home, and I will be at the "Hoyt Loving Zoo.
" That's what I call my daughter's house.
She has three dogs, three cats, two frogs, and many tropical fish.
And the zoo caretakers are her three children: Ricky J.
, Ryan, and Megan.
All members of the family love animals.
They love them, talk to them, and take care for them.
Their "zoo" makes their lives more interesting and fun.
What's that you say? How did I make my life interesting when I was your age? While growing up in the 50s, baseball was truly the national pastime.
Football and basketball weren't even on my radar screen.
My mind constantly focused on playing baseball in one form or another.
I shared this obsession with my cousin, John, who lived nearby.
The prospects of playing ball always drew us together like mud to cleats.
John and I made up our own lineups, ground rules, and stadiums.
At my house we played endless hours of stoop ball.
We would fire the ball at the front brick steps, hoping to hit the pointed steps, and watch it soar.
Sometimes we would forget to take out the porch bug light and a foul ball would smash it to pieces.
Then we would race our bikes to John's stadium.
At John's house we usually played Wiffle ball and used the house as a backstop.
Once John's mother, Aunt Frances, came outside to warn us not to play near the house.
She said we might break a window and pointed to a few cellar windows we had broken with wayward softballs.
We promised her that we wouldn't break any windows.
I charged up to home plate, slashed at John's first curveball, and the wooden-broom-handle bat sailed in back of me through the kitchen window.
"SMASH! CRACK!" A split-second later, Aunt Frances stuck her head out of the shattered window and yelled, "You just did the impossible!-you broke the window!" Right after the kitchen window incident, we found an alternate stadium down the block-composed of a factory wall, a seldom used truck entrance, and some conveniently located black-top.
As soon as we outlined the strike zone with chalk on the cement wall, we played stickball one-on-one.
The pitcher played infield, outfield, and called the pitch on the wall, if the batter did not swing.
John and I loved being alive, outside, and playing ball.
That's what mattered.
Why did our parents tolerate occasional broken windows, grass spots on the front lawn, broken bug lights, dented storm doors, and noisy kids outside? They knew we were happy and doing something healthy.
John and I taught our children to play softball and baseball.
And they are teaching their children to play.
The joys of playing ball can be endless.
Your pursuit of happiness can be successful if you are passionate about whatever you enjoy.
It could be baseball or any other wholesome pursuit.
This passion may become your vocation or your avocation, but no matter what you will probably be a happy kid.