It is said, families that pray together, stay together. For staying together for a lifetime, for developing real strong bonds, it is important that all the family members, including children learn to appreciate and say thanks to each other and to other good things in their lives. Thanksgiving is the best festival to inculcate the value of appreciation and thankfulness in children. It is the day when entire family sits together and prays to God and thanks the almighty for all the good things in their lives. When children also sit with their parents and follow them, they begin to understand the value of gratitude in their lives and that how much calming this emotion can be.
Once you begin to feel gratitude towards the good things in your life, you tend to begin positive also towards life. You see what you are blessed with and stop sulking about the things which you have not got in life so far. When children see their parents expressing gratitude for even those things which they might have taken for granted, they begin to realize how fortunate they are. They might have taken those things for granted but in reality, they constitute most beautiful things in their lives. For example, it might have never occurred to the children that having loving and caring parents is one of the best things in the world since they always saw their parents around. But on the day of Thanksgiving, when they see their own parents thanking God for having lovely parents, they may realize that yes, it is one of the biggest blessings and may think of that silent boy in the school who has lost his mother recently.
It is this feeling of gratitude and appreciation that gives children a positive outlook towards life and makes them optimistic towards life. Once children learn the importance and positive effects of expressing gratitude, they tend to inculcate this habit in their lives and gradually begin to express their gratitude to all those people who have been kind or helpful to them. Gradually, it becomes a way of life because each year, they express their gratitude to God and all other good people in their lives and it reinforces in them the value of gratitude and its positive effects.
For teaching the children how to say thanks, it is important that you start early. Toddlers should be taught to say thanks to everyone who gives them something or other. Besides, modeling takes center stage here. Children follow their parents and if you, as parents express your gratitude for all the good things in life then children also automatically begin to do that.
For adolescents, the best way is to ask them to reflect on all the good things that have happened with them. Let the feeling of gratitude come to them through reflection. Another great way is to make it a habit that at dinner time, entire family will express gratitude to God for all the good things and then will eat dinner together.
So, don’t wait anymore, start today and inculcate the value of gratitude in your children. Someone rightly said that feeling gratitude but not expressing it is like wrapping a gift for someone and not giving it.
