When people ask me what excites me most these days, they often expect an answer about business deals, investment opportunities or political developments. Instead, my answer is simple: watching our grandchildren play, laugh and interact.
There is something special about seeing little children at play. I watch our grandchildren — we are blessed with 14 of them now, with another one on the way — and I see how the smallest things fill them with wonder; how a cardboard box can become a castle and a puddle a pool. I watch our own children becoming parents themselves. I see their cousins playing together and it brings back memories of when I was young, spending time with my own cousins around the neighborhood.
Here is something remarkable that we tend to forget as adults: little children laugh and smile hundreds of times a day. Hundreds. Adults manage only a small fraction of that. Somewhere along the way, between childhood and adulthood, we lose the simplicity of abundant joy. Perhaps we become serious, preoccupied, stressed by responsibilities, deadlines and the weight of the world’s problems. We forget how to find delight in simple things.
As we grow older, we tend to want more, expect more and complicate more, when in reality happiness often comes from learning to appreciate what we already have rather than constantly chasing what we do not. In my experience, people who laugh often and have a good sense of humor are not only more enjoyable to be around, they also tend to be happier.
One of the greatest joys of being a grandfather, being “Papa,” is experiencing childhood’s wonder again but from a different vantage point. I get to have fun and enjoy my time with our grandchildren, loving them, playing with them and seeing the world through their eyes.
The simplicity of children offers us a powerful lesson about happiness. Research consistently shows that the happiest people are not those who accumulate the most — the most money, the most achievements, the most recognition. The happiest people are those who maintain strong relationships, who find meaning in serving others and who cultivate gratitude for what they have rather than longing for what they lack. Children understand this instinctively. They do not need expensive gifts to be happy; they need presence, attention and love.
From my experience watching 14 grandchildren discover the world with fresh eyes, the lesson is simple: find time to laugh more. Rediscover wonder. Pay attention to the small miracles that surround us every day. Watch how children approach the world, with curiosity, openness and an assumption that good things are possible, and let them remind us of truths we may have forgotten.
Perhaps the greatest gift our grandchildren give us is the reminder to slow down, to be present and to remember that joy is not something we must earn or achieve. It is something we receive when we open ourselves to the simplicity of loving, laughing and playing. ●
Umberto P. Fedeli is President & CEO of The Fedeli Group
