Father’s Day is just around the corner, and allprodad.com has some great tips for dads and how they can help raise their kids. Here are some great ways to keep your kids on stable ground when they face the obstacles of life.

Resilience

The saying goes, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” But I say that’s only true if you have the right tools and know how to use them. The time will come when your children will have to face challenges. That’s OK, because most of them build character and the ability not only to bounce back but to bounce forward too. Be there for your kids to guide them, but don’t be too quick to rescue them. In your own life, let them see you struggle and problem solve. Walking with your children through trials rather than giving them easy solutions helps prepare them for adulthood.

Relationships

Think social connections here—all the people we interact with each day. Model healthy relationships for your children by the way you interact with your spouse, friends, coworkers, and people you meet in public. Ask yourself if you consistently treat people well, both in front of your children and when your children aren’t looking. Keep talking with your kids in an age-appropriate way about loving, respecting, and serving others. Set the bar. Healthy role modeling and discussions now speak volumes later when your sons or daughters begin to establish relationships on their own.

Self-Awareness

Helping our children recognize what’s going on inside themselves is key to developing strong and confident children. As children age, they become more aware of the world around them and their reactions to different situations. By helping them to recognize and verbalize their emotions, we equip our sons and daughters to think more clearly and react properly. This is a major step toward their future self-discipline and self-control.

Support

Having conversations with your children about how and who to ask for help empowers them when they face difficulties. Assure them that it is OK to ask for help. We all need it sometimes. Assist in enhancing their problem-solving capabilities by talking them through problems. Together, identify trusted individuals from whom your child can ask for help. Lastly, try running through a few simulations at home. This will be good practice for when real trials arise.

Communication

Communication within a family is foundational to building stronger children. Engage your kids in conversation with questions such as, “What is one good thing that happened today?” or “What should we do this weekend?” Give everyone an opportunity both to listen and to speak. Value and respect their answers. In the long run, helping your children develop strong conversational skills will appropriately equip them to communicate one day with a potential spouse and also prepare them for the workforce.

Today is National Smile Power, a day that celebrates just how powerful a smile is!

In his TED Talk, “The Hidden Power of Smiling,” Ron Gutman reviews several studies about smiling, and in doing so comes up with some surprising but wonderful results.

1. Smiles Can Measure Longevity

Ron describes studies that were done by looking at photographs and gauging how successful a person will be, based on their smile. Studying yearbook photos and comparing their theories with the real-life experiences of each subject proved that there’s a definite connection between those who smile broadly and those who don’t smile at all.

2. We Were Born Smiling

“Using 3D ultrasound technology,” Ron states, “we can now see that developing babies appear to smile, even in the womb. When they’re born, babies continue to smile, initially mostly in their sleep. Even blind babies smile at the sound of a human voice.”

A wide, bright smile is a predictor of a long life and marriage, for instance. In one study that looked at the smiles of professional baseball players on their official MLB cards, scientists were even able to accurately predict life span, based solely on how “beaming” their smiles were.

3. Most people smile more than twenty times each day.

Unless you’re a child, and then you smile up to four hundred times each day. No wonder being around children makes us happy!

Smiling is one of the most basic biological human expressions. Studies of Papua New Guinea tribes that are completely disconnected from western culture show that they smile the same way we do: they use smiling to express joy and satisfaction.

4. Smiling is contagious!

It’s evolutionary. Humans have evolved over time to mimic other people’s expressions in order to experience their emotion physically, helping us understand their emotional state.

5. The act of smiling actually makes us feel better.

Charles Darwin wrote about this phenomenon in his “Theory of Evolution,” describing how facial feedback helps us feel better when we smile. The physical act of smiling sends feedback to our brains, telling us we’re happy.

6. Smiling stimulates our brain better than chocolate.

Hard to believe, isn’t it? It’s true! Chemically speaking, one smile stimulates the human brain the same amount as eating up to 2000 bars of chocolate!

7. Smiling makes you healthier.

Smiling causes a chemical reaction in the brain, releasing mood-enhancing hormones and reducing high blood pressure. It also reduced stress chemicals. Not too shabby!

8. Smiling makes you look more attractive and competent.

Studies have shown that when you smile, you appear to be more likable, courteous, and competent. You’ll also reduce stress in whomever you’re smiling at.