Children's Perspectives on Happiness and Subjective Well‐being in Preschool

Photo‐elicited interviews indicate that children hardly ever mention educators when asked about elements in preschool that make them feel happy. Happiness is found to occur in activities in the ‘underlife’ of the ECEC institution. Children challenge adult rules and norms in order to create status in the peer‐group, while at the same time, they seek to construct social identity and maintain a positive relationship with their educators. A child that manages to balance both adult expectations and what is needed to participate in the underlife among peers, experiences happiness and thus, is in a good state of well‐being.