How to raise a grateful child

How to raise grateful children

So, as I continue on my journey as a mother I want to pass along things that are important to me and my husband. 

We want our boys to be educated, responsible, have work ethic, to be smart with money, be charitable and I'm sure there's more. But for this post I'm am going to touch on one topic.

Being grateful.

I like to look around and see if there is anything else we can do that we aren't already doing to ensure we are on the right path. So here is what I have found. I hope this information shared here helps you all as well! 

 

Grateful:

grate·ful

ˈɡrātfəl/

adjective

adjective: grateful

feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness; thankful.

"I'm very grateful to you for all your help"

synonyms: thankful, appreciative

One way to raise grateful kids is to lead by example. Be grateful for all that you all have. Be grateful for all the opportunities available to you. Be grateful for the love that surrounds you. Teach your kids about what it means to be grateful.

Time Magazine has a great article on How to raise Grateful Kids. This is for kids of all ages. This article mentions the "let down" after the holidays. That's one part I loved. I'm sure it's happened to you. I'm sure kids don't mean it the way it sounds. But they are excited about everything they received and sometimes want more. Or can even be disappointed about what they didn't get. This is a teachable moment. I stress how much I love the holidays because I love giving. It feels good to give. We may not have much but our little bit can be a lot to someone else.

Our elementary school did a Toys for Tots. They also did food drives. I feel it's important that our kids recognize people need food. Food! A basic need that we can take for granted. One year we helped a specific child. Through my husband's work we participated in this program where we were assigned a child. We only knew his age, needs and sizes. We bought an outfit, shoes, winter jacket and toys. Our oldest son was shocked and saddened to hear he needed a jacket! A jacket! 

Teaching Our Children Gratitude from theidearoom.net talks about ways to teach gratitude. Gratitude doesn’t come naturally to our children. It is learned. So, as parents, “Teaching our Children Gratitude” should be at the top of our parental to-do list. One thing mentioned is writing thank you notes. It's such a simple thing to do and an easy way to teach kids how to appreciate something.

At dinner, you can play the Rose and Thorn game, where the person whose turn it is to speak holds a rose and tells about one rose (a good thing) and one thorn (a challenging thing). A metaphor like the rose helps children develop gratitude even when things aren't going their way. Keeping the rose in a vase all week serves as another reminder of coping with natural ups and downs. Books like The Giving Tree, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? and Mama Panya's Pancakes offer simple, powerful metaphors of virtues. I love this idea! Kind of like going over highs and lows. You can not only recognize a good thing but find out what was difficult for them that day and find out what they did to handle it or help them work through it. Not sure it needs to be a rose but you get the idea! Also its a good conversation queue for the kids to talk about their day. We sometimes ask if something funny happened or what they did on the playground or who they sat with and so on. Sometimes they need prompts!

Thankful:

Thankful is just another word for grateful. What better time to teach thankfulness than Thanksgiving! One year over Thanksgiving we did a Thankful Paper Chain. For two weeks we all wrote one thing we were thankful for on a slip of paper and added it to the chain. It's a great activity any time of year!

 

The Meaning of Thanksgiving video from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving according to Marcie.

 

 

Appreciation:

Yet another word with the same meaning ... How to raise an appreciative child from Todays Parent touches on many topics such as responsibility, not giving into the kiddos requests and money management to name just a few.   

Charitable:

Obviously being charitable is a great way to demonstrate gratitude. I want to share what we can do and what others are doing to help.

Not only does being charitable help others it can help you too! 7 Scientific Facts About the Benefit of Doing Good from Good Net.

 

Apparently there is a Good Deeds Day 



Global Giving was mentioned in the above article from PBS Parents. So many ways to help. And it shows that the world is larger than just our neighborhood. There is a section on children. I think children helping children is a great thing.

The Red Nose Day campaign was an opportunity for us to help. We simply bought red noses at Walgreens. It wasn't much. Next year hopefully we can do more. But this at least brought awareness, in a fun way, to a real need. I saw this article/video of comedian actor Jack Black speaking to a homeless child, Felix, in Africa. It was a sad and touching story. I decided to share it with our boys. What this child wanted most was to go to school. School! That blew Jack away. Such a simple basic desire. Thankfully a few weeks later I heard that Felix was placed into a foster home and going to school. I shared that update with our boys as well. There was a happy ending for him. That people are helping. People do care. And he now goes to school. A place my children complain about going! I try to stress the importance of school. What amazing opportunities school can offer. I hope Felix's story helps them. He has become an inspiration! He hung in there. He will do amazing things. That should be important to all of us. Do we want him to leave him living on the streets or be a productive member of this global society?

There are many ways to be charitable and be involved.

• We happen to have an organization called Pebble Tossers near us. They organize events that children can join in as well. See if you have something like this near you or start one up!
• Habitat for Humanity is a well known organization that does amazing things for communities all around the world.
• If your child is into animals, see how you can help animals in your area or around the world. Check out shelters near you to see if they need supplies. Check out the World Wildlife Fund or other organizations to help animals around the world.
• If your child wants to help other children, look into charities that are for children. Such as Ronald McDonald House or local hospitals or organizations that assist in educational needs. Or look around your community to see where children need help like school supplies collection or meal delivery. Don't forget about Toys for Tots!
• If your children are into nature, help protect our National Parks by exploring them and donating to keep them running.
• If your child is into the environment or concerned about the health of our planet look into these organization such as Rainforest Trust. We donated money to this organization to protect land.
• If your child feels for those dealing with the aftermath of natural disasters or the ravages of war check out World Central Kitchen who is always on the scene preparing hot meals for those in need and those helping others.
• If your child wants to help other children who are living in Ukraine dealing with the impacts of the Russian invasion look into all the great work Voices of Children is doing to help these kids. 

There are so many more but I am not going to list them all here. You get the idea! Just be sure you do your research before donating. Look up the charity here Charity Navigator.

Books:

The Best Childrens Book shares a list of books Teaching Gratitude - books for teaching gratitude & thankfulness

From Good Net 25 Children’s Books to Teach Your Kids Meaningful Values Check out all this website has to offer! 

I referred to a few different words here such as Grateful, Thankful and Appreciative. I think they are all the same and important to pass onto our kids. It will help us all in the long run! If you have any suggestions please comment and let us know.