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Teaching your children how to be grateful sets them up for emotional wellness. There are several ways to help your children learn to feel and also express gratitude.
- When you are settling your child in at bedtime, discuss what you are thankful for. Make a game of it. “Tonight, name something or someone that you are thankful for that starts with the letter A.”
- Encourage your children to say “thank you” on a regular basis. It’s okay to prompt them when examples arise, like, “Your sister let you go first. What do you say to her?”
- Ask questions that will spark your children to think of things to be grateful for. “What’s one thing that happened at school today that you are grateful for?” Alternatively, you could buy a gratitude journal that will do the prompting for you.
- Be a gratitude model. Our kids often do and say what they see, especially from their parents. Grateful parents often raise grateful children.
- Have your children send a card to someone they are thankful for, while you do the same.
- Make a gratitude board. Grab some sticky notes and have your children write something they are thankful for and post it to the board. This visual aid will be a great reminder.
When gratitude is a priority in the home, it will help your children to savor goodness and see the silver lining in life. This attitude will teach the value in more than just things. Adults and children who live with an attitude of gratitude tend to be kinder, even more generous.
“Gratitude is good medicine,” says Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and author of The Little Book of Gratitude.
This optimistic outlook can help to:
1. Reduce stress and boost self-esteem.
2. Improve/provide better quality sleep.
3. Lower blood pressure.
4. Strengthen bonds, encouraging community.-1.jpg?width=5287&name=blog%20images%20(45)-1.jpg)
Once you have created this wonderful habit, your family will naturally look for things to be thankful for, which could shift the atmosphere in your home. Another great thing may happen; your children’s friends, and even your friends, may witness the change and adopt a lifestyle of gratitude. Domino effects can be powerful. Remember “pay it forward” which became popular in 2000? This act of kindness mindset spread like wildfire and it still happens today.
Don’t limit what this simple change can do to the world around you. At Impact Health Sharing, we are grateful for you!
An attitude of gratitude goes a long way when it comes to physical and emotional healing.
~ J. Taylor
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