This is really an important question we each need to ask ourselves. Hopefully your answer is yes for multiple reasons. The most important reason is that it makes your life better if you are happy. In addition, when you are happy those around you are more likely to be happy. Another reason is the influence your happiness has on your children. Your happiness has a tremendous impact on their happiness.

Your happiness and the happiness you are modeling for your child begins with smiling. It is pretty easy to do and makes the other person do it, too. Smiling really is infectious.

Some people are good at smiling and others seem to have forgotten how it is done. If you are part of the latter group, you need to practice. Think of things that make you happy. How did you feel when you were happy? Hopefully, just thinking about times you have been happy can help make you happy now.

Another way to get happy is to smile at your young child. Even if your child is a baby, she is likely to smile when you smile at her. This is something worth practicing for each of you.

I watched a mother talk with her baby who was a little over a year old. She smiled all the while she was talking to her. Her baby responded in kind. When she talked to her baby, she even used polite words like please and thank you when she handed her a treat at the restaurant. So while this baby was learning about eating in the restaurant, she also was learning about being polite and being happy. That is quite a lot to learn from a conversation over breakfast.

As the mother left the restaurant with the baby, she continued their conversation. The number of words she heard in the 10 minutes we watched her was more than many people share with their children in a day. At the same time the young child was happy and learning. That is a lot to have happen in 10 minutes.

One of the nicest things about being happy is you enjoy your time during the day. Add to your happiness by looking at the beautiful sky or the beautiful clouds; both can make you smile if you let yourself think positively. Look at the new plants or flowers. Look around and figure out what in your surroundings makes you feel good and feel happy. Watch the happy people you see walking down the street. Say hello to the person you made eye contact with as you went into the store or at least flash a smile.

This does not mean you can be happy all of the time. There is a difference between being a happy person and someone who is always happy. There are bound to be some difficult days.

As I was writing this article there were issues that came up in my family that made it a difficult time. No matter how difficult, I am not going to let this change how I feel about life and how I want to be a happy person. I may just have to put it off for a day.

So take the bad with the good. Make the next day a better one. In the overall scheme of things, have the good days way in the majority. Be happy.

Cynthia Martin is the founder of the First Teacher program and former executive director of Parenting Matters Foundation, which publishes newsletters for parents, caregivers and grandparents. Reach Martin at pmf@olypen.com.