Parents are taking the time to remind their kids what it means to be thankful.
You want to teach your children to “give thanks” on Thanksgiving (as well as at other times during the year…)
But you also want them to know that it goes beyond simply saying “Please” and “Thank you…”
How can you get your kids to understand gratitude and giving thanks without making it seem like a chore?
Check out the ideas from Wendy Young at Kidlutions for how to cultivate gratitude in your children…
Here’s one of her ideas:
Teach your child how to say thank you in a different language. There are 26 ways to say thank you on this site.
Teaching your kids new ways of saying Thank You can make this whole gratitude thing even more fun…
And it’s something that kids of all ages can get involved in.
You can even print the 26 ways to say Thank You and hang it on the fridge…
Then each time someone in your family says one of them, you could put a check mark by it.
How many days do you think it would take you to use them all?
Another one of Wendy’s tips for teaching your children the meaning of Thanksgiving, and how to be grateful is to start a Family Gratitude Journal.
This is a cool idea (and so easy to do) because you just leave a notebook out in a public space in your home so that, at any time, family members can write or draw things that they’re grateful for.
Then as Wendy suggests…
Find a time…maybe before or after a meal…or before bedtime, to read the journal as a family.
Encourage your toddlers, teens and everyone in between to participate in this family project.
It’ll make an awesome keepsake for years down the road too, so be sure to date it.
Click through to the full article to see Wendy’s other ideas for helping your kids be grateful and thankful this Thanksgiving…
More Parenting Advice: What do you do in your home to help your kids understand the importance (and power) of being grateful and thankful?
Cultivating Gratitude In Our Children [KidLutions]
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Miss Mona,
So lovely of you to share some of Kidlutions’ ideas here on your post! I love how you have expanded those ideas and thoughts! See…two brains are ALWAYS better than one.
Have a splendiferous day!
Wendy
During the month of November we work as a family on a thanksgiving tree. I cut open a brown paper grocery bag and hang it on the wall (next to the dinner table) to resemble a tree trunk. I then cut out a stack of leaves, in fall colors, and put them in an envelope taped to the wall under the tree. Every day at dinner we discuss something from that day each of us was thankful for, write it on a leaf, and hang it on our tree. This is a great discussion starter, and offers a visual reminder of all the blessings in our lives. The kids even go in during the day and fill out a leaf to hang up if something strikes them. It makes a fun fall display, a great craft activity if you let your kids make their own leaf cut outs, a good discussion starter, and a great way to build an attitude of gratitude.
@Wendy Young: Love putting heads together for cool ideas. Awesome! Thanks for the inspiration.
@SkyeGiggles: Thanks for your comment! Your Thanksgiving Tree idea is really unique. Love it! Kinda like Wendy’s idea of having the family gratitude book/journal, but it’s in tree form up on the wall with fall-colored leaves. Cool how it’s so interactive. Have you ever taken a picture of one of your Thanksgiving Trees and posted it on your blog? I’d love to see it if you have.