13 Ways To Teach Our Children GRATITUDE

Gratitude is defined as the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful. The power of gratitude makes wonders in your own life and the power of Thanksgiving can have a huge effect on the people around you.

I believe that children learn what they live and that everyone around them serves as a role model to them. Setting the right example can be crucial in the beginning years of a child’s life. Here are 13 ways that help us teach our children gratitude and thanksgiving in their daily lives:

1. Saying  “Thank You”. ~ Saying “thank you” is one of the most effective ways to show our children the power of gratitude. This is a great example of positive parenting, and a powerful habit not difficult to teach. Showing our children that we are grateful will encourage them to be so as well.
2. Assigning Chores. ~  After our children complete simple household chores, the whole family must thank them for their effort and contribution. They will learn to feel gratitude for the outcome of their hard work. I always tell my children how blessed I feel because I have work to do and remind them of the things we “get to do” with the fruits of my labor.
3. Daily Grace. ~ Every day, we thank God before we eat our meals. We take turns so the whole family can express things they are thankful for that day. This practice helps our children realize that they can be grateful for even the smallest of things.
4. Having Patience. ~ Gratitude doesn’t come overnight. It can take weeks, months, or even years of reinforcement. In the end, we will be  thankful to have endured and will reap what we sowed.
5. No Complaints. ~ Complaining about the things we don’t have makes us ungrateful – and miserable. This attitude rubs off on our kids and pushes us one step backwards in our efforts to have grateful children.
6. Helping Others. ~ We can help our kids experience the warmth of appreciation by teaching them to engage in simple giving tasks. Holding the door for a stranger,  helping someone with their groceries, donate toys and clothes, and participating in book drives, food drives, and other charities, or simply paying a sincere compliment to make someone smile.
7. Embracing Beauty. ~ Enjoying the beautiful things around us and pointing them out to our little ones is a magical practice that makes me feel alive. The sun shining, a cute baby smiling, blossoming flowers, majestic mountains, the sound of the ocean… engage all your senses into gratitude.
8. Seeing the Good in Things. ~ Seeing the good in a seemingly not-so-good situation is not an easy practice, but one that teaches us perspective and makes us a positive mom. Asking our children to name three good reasons why something may have happened is a way to enforce gratitude along with teaching them to think outside the box.
9. Saying “No”. ~ It’s unrealistic to believe we always get what we want. Why teach our child such fallacy and make them unappreciative? Our children don’t necessarily need everything they ask for, and it’s our responsibility to learn to say “no” and, of course, explain why!
10. Role Playing. ~ Practice makes progress. Saying “please” and “thank you” with your child will ingrain this principle in their minds. We all have different learning styles, so the more creative ways we can find to reinforce a concept, the better!
11. ‘Thank You’ Notes. ~ Every time my girls receive a present or any gift such as hospitality, friendship, or understanding… we make sure to write and draw a ‘thank you’ card. They always do their best to show appreciation. This is one of the favorite gratitude practices we have developed with the years.
12. Fun-Filled Activities. ~ From “gratitude rocks” to the “gratitude dance”, there are so many fun things we can come up with to teach our children to have fun being thankful. A neat idea I just found is to cut up a few slits of paper and each day have the girls write something they are thankful for and drop it into a  jar (like a gratitude bank lol) and then on Sundays read them with the whole family.
13. Counting Blessings. ~ We take many things for granted and forget the difference between rights and privileges. Remembering that some don’t enjoy the people and things  we have can rapidly shift our mood and attitude. Every year, I take the girls to my hometown in the Dominican Republic and often times, I talk to them about my childhood in the slum and everything I lacked. You may adopt an underprivileged child in a less-developed country, watch documentaries, or take the children to a poor neighborhood in town…whatever you do, the best is to make it a point that  because we are blessed, we must bless others!

Teaching our children gratitude and thanksgiving is essential to become more positive, appreciative, and most importantly, happy. How do you teach your children the principle of gratitude? Share with us… and Happy Thanksgiving, my lovely amiga!

Elayna is a single mom of 4, award-winning Storyteller, Story Strategist, and Student of Pain. She’s a bestselling author, internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, and 4x TEDx speaker. Founder of the Positive MOM® and creator of the S.T.O.R.Y. System: a blueprint to craft and share powerful stories that will transform your results, so you can have the wealth, opportunities, and freedom you deserve. Connect with Elayna Fernández at thepositivemom.com/keynote-speaker and follow @thepositivemom. To receive a gift from Elayna, click HERE.

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