Is It All About Syllable Stress?

I'm obsessed with the number of syllables in words as well and syllable stress. My students are so sick of it, but then I'd show one of them: Does it even matter? And I was like, yeah, it really does. So, so happiness, how many syllables? Happiness. Three. Which one's the strongest? The first syllable. Okay. What happens if you stress the second syllable? Happiness. Ha ha. Did you say a penis? Yeah. You don't want to get that stress wrong, do you? Especially if you're a French and the H is a difficult one. It's probably silent. I want happiness. Paul Taylor