Hey, American Thanksgiving is coming up and I've been thinking about how to teach my kids to be thankful. There is lots of good research that shows that focusing on what you're thankful for helps improve mood. The effects can be as strong as an antidepressant medication (with no side effects). Amy keeps a thankfulness journal and we sometimes have a conversation at dinner about "what was the best thing that happened to you today?" I would like to go volunteer at our local foodbank this holiday season but somehow this doesn't really seem enough. What do you do to teach your kids to be thankful (filled with gratitude)? How did you learn to be grateful?
Rob
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I've just been reading about the effects that being grateful have on a person's physical and mental state. I found it very interesting. We do the same thing at dinner time and everyone tells about something good that happened during the day, but we have recently added saying something specific that we are thankful for. I'm hoping that it will help us all to recognize and start to look at the things we can be grateful for. We are still on the basics of food, shelter, etc... but since we all have to say something different from the day before and different from each other I am hoping it will start to get interesting. Another idea I had was to add a message during our family home evenings. Teach a short lesson on what is happening in other parts of the world. How fortunate we are to be able to learn to read and have schools, safety etc... I know this is getting too long. Anyways, that's what we are doing to teach our kids to choose gratitude. But I agree that it doesn't seem like enough because it is all talking and no action. I think that some of life's difficult obstacles are what taught me to be grateful.
Karen
We do the same thing at dinner too! but I have been struggling trying to get the same thing across to my kids, especially with christmas just around the corner and feeling like I want and need everything. Last year we gave a lady in our ward some money to fly home to the philipiennes for christmas. She has been a nanny here off and on for the past 15 years, supporting her family at home. She has two kids at home with her husband, her oldest is 17 and youngest is 9. She hadn't seen them in over 2 years last year. Wow, it made me so thankful to live where we do and all that we have, and so grateful that we had a small amount to give her. I wish I could teach my kids that as well. I must agree with Karen that the trials I have gone through have made me the most thankful.
I think kids learn to be thankful best when parents are thankful I think our kids learned when we did something for a down and outer. We are truly lucky. We have nice homes to go to, food to eat, school to learn from, clothing to wear, we can go to sleep at night without fear, we have never been involved in a war, we have friends to associate with, good educations. We are among the most lucky people on earth.
I'll just add a line at the bottom of Dad's message. I remember my Dad taking me aside one year and telling me that for my birthday maybe I should send my mother a thank you card as I wouldn't be having a birthday if it wasn't for her. I did that for quite a few years and even sent my folks a thank you card for my graduation even though I had put myself through the last two years but I did realize that it was their influence that had brought me to that position in the first place. Just an idea. Mom
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