Let's brain storm here and I think you will see that you do more then you think, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement always, never room for berating yourself and saying "I have failed at this, why bother." As a parent I can think of few things that bother me as much as ingratitude, can you imagine how our Heavenly Father must feel?! Okay let's brain storm now, I teach my children gratitude through my example of...
1. Having family prayer - verbally pray with your family and be very specific about what you are grateful for. Be sure to mention what you are grateful for in each family member present.
2. By writing notes of gratitude (most of the time) when people do nice things for you and you encourage your kids to do the same. Setting up a Thankful Station and giving them access to it is huge.
3. By reinforcing good habits.When your 7 year old shares their favorite coveted toy with their 4 year old sibling you are sure to give them thanks and praise for doing so. Also encouraging the child on the receiving end to express gratitude, "that is your sisters favorite toy, that's pretty nice of her to share it with you, how can you show your gratitude to her?" Or something like that anyway.
I don't want to make a huge list, I just want to trigger in you that you do teach your children gratitude, now, what are some other ways you teach your kids to be grateful??????????????????? Comment I want to hear!
It's easy to get sensory overload, we have access to so much information and ideas not to mention our never ending to-do list! It can make our brains short circuit and shut down. So let's keep it simple! I know Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I know! Don't check out on me! We have time to set some simple goals together. The whole point of the post is we do have time, it will really only take you 15mins or so to set your goals and gather all the supplies assuming you don't have to make a trip to the store. The problem can be that we don't set out looking for specific crafts we get overwhelmed because were being to general. What do you want to accomplish and what crafts & ideas will get you there. Now let's set some specific goals together!
One craft you can do with your kids on Thanksgiving that encourages gratitude. I am going to do the Thanksgiving Time Capsule again. Kids love burying stuff and making a map to find it again next year. It's also SUPER simple!
One way you can encourage your family to be more grateful through out the year. I am going to start a daily gratitude notebook with my kids & hubs and we will write in it during dinner.
Added bonus points goal - Finding a way to show my kids on Thanksgiving how grateful we are by serving someone else. Looking for an eye-opening experience here. Why lounge around all day when you can do some good for someone else! I'll let you know what we end up doing.
What are your goals?
One on the way?! Congrats! That's awesome! One way to teach your kids to be grateful is to put it into practice yourself. "Look how lucky we are to get ___________!" I agree also that prayer is an excellent way to teach gratitude. One thing we also try to do is talk about the best part of our day during dinner; I think this helps us see just how happy and blessed our lives are It can be so easy to dwell on the negative around us, but this turns the focus away.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on baby #3. How exciting!!! We are currently doing a thankful tree. I had the girls decorate trees and each night we write something that we are thankful for. They are really loving it, and I think it is funny the things they come up with, when I ask Brooke what she is thankful for, Kyla and Bailey quickly jump in and answer for her and they are very insightful on what they think she is grateful for. Thanks for the post. I think we are going to give the Journal a try. And you are right about doing something during Thanksgiving instead of just lounging around, I will have to think of something. =) Thanks for always being such an inspiration to us all.
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