How to bring more gratitude into your child’s life without them even knowing
Posted: November 21, 2019
Part 1
During the month of November, we are all reminded through the holiday of Thanksgiving about the importance of being grateful. We know it is important but you continually feel like your children just don’t get it. Here are the first 5 of 10 tips that you can integrate to bring more gratitude into your home without your children ever even knowing.
1. Speak often about being grateful – Nothing will beat a consistent message played over and over again. Have you ever caught yourself repeating a saying your parents used to say? I think we all have. When children continually hear you give your reasons for why you feel grateful it’s no surprise over time they will do the same.
2. Encourage chores – While there are many benefits of choirs, one that perhaps you have not thought of is empathy. When I child is given the experience of working out in the hot sun, washing an entire meal full of dishes or shoveling snow, they tend to be more empathetic when they see others doing these tasks. How, after all, would we know how disheartening it is to shovel a driveway clear of all snow only to have a street plow come by and push the snow into your freshly cleared entrance.
3. Find a Project – Listen for what pulls at your child’s heart. Is it caring for abused animals, their reaction to seeing a poor person on the street or seeing some other kind of social injustice? Whatever it is, encourage and participate along with them in getting involved by investing volunteer time to make it better.
4. Thank you notes – Perhaps even more important today than in the past, taking the time to thank someone for efforts they made is a wonderful way to keep their feet grounded in gratitude. For a moment it puts your child in tune with a tangible act of expressing gratitude. Birthday and holiday gifts are a great place to start.
5. Practice saying, “No” - Doesn’t it go against the nature of wanting to make your child happy to tell your child, “No”. Let me give you a little motivation to do it more often. Research studies have shown that when you give children everything they want, they are less likely to appreciate and more likely to have an entitled mindset. The more you practice saying “No” the more you are actually showing them love for the long term.
Stay tuned for next week as we share tips 6-10 on how to bring more gratitude into your child's life.
