The purposes of this study were to analyze individual interviews about how young children perceived the meanings of happiness and when they felt happy, to understand the characteristics of their thoughts and experiences of happiness, and to make plans to promote their happiness. The subjects included 274 young children aged 3-5 at two kindergartens and one daycare center in Seoul. The findings were as follows: first, young children explained the meanings of happiness with positive emotional states such as feeling good, loving, feeling glad, liking, having fun, and excited. A considerable number, however answered that they didn't know. Secondly, young children felt happy when engaging in their favorite play, being together with their favorite person, having emotional supports, receiving presents, going to some special place, having their favorite food, their body and mind felt comfortable, and achieving what they wanted through efforts. Happiness is an essential factor for good and full life. It is necessary to provide young children with happy experiences so that they can maintain a happy life. There is a need for education to help them realize that true happiness comes from taking an interest in and making a contribution to the happiness of others beyond the pursuit of personal happiness and to increase their power of execution. Keywords : young children's perception of happiness, happy experience of young children, analysis of interview Corresponding author, 1)
The purposes of this research were to understand children's perception of happiness and to propose suggestions for improving the level of happiness based on children's needs by analyzing individual interviews about what makes them happy and why. The subjects of the study were 163 children aged three to five at two kindergartens and one daycare center in Seoul, South Korea. Research results were as follows. First, they indicated living things (human, animal, plant) and inanimate things (plaything, school supply/book, tool/machine, accessory, food, property) as the objects that make them happy. The most frequently indicated objects that make children happy included plaything (toy) (31.9%), human (12.3%), school supply/book (10.6%). Secondly, the reason why specific objects make children happy was because those objects provided satisfaction with desire for play, emotional satisfaction, practical satisfaction, esthetic satisfaction, satisfaction with desire for creation, and moral satisfaction. The most frequent reason regarding why they become happy was because they could play with playthings, and felt fun or good when they play. The identified playthings that make children happy and satisfy their various needs were those which they could easily find at home and in the early childhood institutes. Such results suggest that children's happiness could be positively influenced by the setting where they could freely play while interacting with meaningful things.
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