If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
– Martin Luther King Jr.

Rachel Robertson, in her article that is the foundation of an Out of the Box Training, “Making Happy Happen: Building Resilience in Children,” describes how important it is for early childhood programs to prioritize children’s happiness and resilience. She writes, “as children grow we tend to spend most of our energy helping them achieve, whether it be in school, work, hobbies, or other endeavors. Somehow we’ve linked happiness with achievement. But the truth is, achievement and happiness are not synonymous…While progressive achievement is a worthwhile goal for children, it should not be pursued instead of, or worse, at the expense of happiness.”

Robertson proposes that instead of forcing inappropriate academic activities on children too early, we instead choose to focus on a skill that will serve children well their whole lives:

“One of the best ways to nurture happiness is to prepare children for the adversity they’re guaranteed to encounter in life: in other words, develop their ­resilience. Ann Masten, a leading researcher on resilience calls it ordinary magic: a commonplace phenomenon that can do wondrous things…Purposefully developing a child’s naturally resilient tendencies will give him the essential life skills he needs to cope with challenges, adopt a positive perspective, and develop self-confidence and self-worth, all essential ingredients for happiness.”