This time of year is a great time to focus on being thankful. It is also a good time to teach your children to be thankful, and to set up traditions and habits that can carry gratitude over into the entire year. Here are four ways that you can show your gratitude and teach your children to do the same.
One way you can do this is to start a family tradition of sharing three things you are grateful for at Sunday dinner each day. This is carrying the Thanksgiving tradition of expressing thanks throughout the year. If you give your children warning, they will have the chance to notice things that they are grateful for. As you continue the tradition challenge them to come up with different things each week. It can really change your outlook.
Thanksgiving break is a great time to make and write thank you cards. You can have your children write thank you cards for their primary teachers and other church leaders to give them at the end of the year. You can also make thank you cards that can be written after Christmas as a thank you for all of the presents.
Another way that you can express thanks is to give acts of service. This is a pay it forward kind of thankfulness, but serving others also opens up your eyes to see all the things that you are blessed with. Plan a time as a family to serve at a soup kitchen or to volunteer in a needed area in your family.
Encourage your children to say thank you for the small acts of service they receive during the day. Saying thank you for the door being held open or the extra help that you get on a homework assignment helps to create awareness for all the ways that people help. It can also help your children see ways that they can help others.
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