Children sometimes believe that other people ‘should’ do things for them because they would want to or that it is their role to help them out. When they are young it is of course our role to help them but as they get older they need to help themselves and appreciate what we are doing for them. We don’t want our children to take us for granted but we do want them to see that they are blessed with so much and so we need to encourage children to be thankful. We don’t want them just be thankful to us but to anyone who is going to help them in life or does something for that that they really did not need to do.
Encourage Children To Be Thankful By..
Getting them to keep a gratitude journal of those things that they are thankful for every day. It does not matter how many things they write down or what they are so long as they write something. It may be that someone was kind to them or that they are thankful for it not raining, for having clean socks or having a nice snack after school. They could do this at bedtime every day to remind them of all the good things that happen in life.
Suggesting they do some volunteer work so they know how good it feels to help others.
We can get them to talk about what they are grateful for at the end of each day or at mealtimes. In fact everyone that is a part of the family could do it. By sharing your thoughts it would then give them ideas of the small things we feel lucky enough to have in our lives.
We can get them involved to help out around the house so they appreciate how much work is involved in keeping the house going.
We can over express our thanks when other people help or do things for us so our children hear and mirror our actions.
What ideas have you used so your children are more thankful?
To help your child appreciate their life a bit more and for more life skills and personality traits you want to encourage see The Parent’s Toolkit.
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