When we think of gifts, we may immediately think of giving children toys or something in tangible form. We may forget about the simple yet important concept of gratitude and the gift it yields for your children. Gratitude may be a concept worth addressing with children in a variety of ways in little bits throughout your day. According to studies, children who practice more gratitude tend to be happier, more optimistic, and have better social support. They also tend to be more satisfied in their schools, families, communities, friends, and themselves, as gratitude was proven to be a better predictor of hope and happiness than other social constructs, like forgiveness, patience, and even self-control (however, they are still important ones!).
Make gratitude a habit! A few ways to incorporate this gratitude throughout your children’s daily routines in a simple way are while they are in the car, at the dinner table, when they first wake up, or before they go to bed. To introduce the idea of gratitude, you can also start having conversations about what it means to be thankful.
Gratitude can be broken down into various parts, notably:
- Noticing- recognizing the things you can be grateful for
- Thinking- thinking about why you’ve been given those things
- Feeling- the emotions you experience because of the things you’ve been given
- Doing- the way you express appreciation
You may also model how you express gratitude. Some prompts include:
- “A person I am grateful for is…”
- “A strength of mine I am grateful for is…”
- “Something I love to create or build that I am grateful for is…”
- “Something that energizes me that I am grateful for is…”
- “A sound I am grateful for is….”
- “Something in nature I am grateful for is…”
- “An invention I am grateful for is…”
- “Something funny I am grateful for is…”
- “An idea I am grateful for is…”
- “Something cute I am grateful for is…”
- “A goal I am grateful for is…”
- “Something I want to learn more about I am grateful for is…”
- “Something about myself I am grateful for is…”
- “Someone I can count on I am grateful for is…”
