With Thanksgiving a few days away I wanted to post about gratitude and giving. Although I love Christmas, I really don’t like how we skip from Halloween to Christmas time. That Thanksgiving is just a footnote. The sales are already in full swing. There’s no hanging out with family because Black Friday is not just a day but now the whole month of November.
And yes there will be gift guides on Tadpoles and Mud Puddles. No, I don’t hate Christmas. I love it actually. But I just want to think about all the things we should be grateful for. I miss the family traditions. I want to think about the good things in my life for more than a minute. Hit the sales yes but remember that there’s a lot to be thankful for.
So Here are 20 Things to be Thankful for this Thanksgiving
- Family
- Your Spouse
- Your Children
- Friends
- Faith
- Clean Drinking Water
- Food to Eat
- Health
- Choices
- A Life to Live
- Kindness
- Patience
- A Safe Place to Sleep
- Money to Spend
- Laughter
- Love
- Hobbies
- Rain
- An Education
- Technology
Teaching Gratitude
I love the fact that my son will say thank you. Sometimes it needs to be prompted but other times I hear him say it and it makes me smile.
Being grateful for is a cornerstone to a good habit. Your child should learn gratitude and you should model it. What we do and say shapes what our children think and feel. If you have an opportunity to say thank you do.
It’s our job to shape and model our children into decent humans. Part of that is saying thank you but part of it is just being happy with what you have.
If you consider the study from Berkeley University you can see, parents often prop the use of thank you from a young age but that’s not everything there is to feeling gratitude. [1]
It’s a four-step process: notice, think, feel and do. They are all required but often not taught. Something to consider the next you tell your child to say thank you. [1]
Giving
Considering it’s the holiday season think about giving away from your family and friends. Assuming you have a roof over your head, food to eat and your bills paid you can give financially to others. Or give of your time and energy as a volunteer.
Ask your kids for their old toys and give them to your local goodwill. Or buy a new toy for toys for tots or other gift-giving group and have your child put it in the bin. Tell them what that means to a family who has less than you.
Gratitude When It’s Hard
It’s hard to feel gratitude when it’s hard to pay the bills or you can’t get your car to start. It’s hard to count your blessings when things aren’t going great. Feeling gratitude is remembering you have a roof over your head, food in your belly, and friends or family to rely on.
Your attitude shapes things around you. The more you dwell on the bad the more consuming it becomes. Develop your own attitude of gratitude and do everything you can to improve your situation.
Grab your Gratitude Tree
If you’d like to make a gratitude tree this Thanksgiving as a way to dwell on the things you are thankful for.
Gratitude and Giving
Teach your kids about gratitude and giving this holiday season. It’s healthy and a good habit to recognize what you have in the mid of the “give me” season.
What are your favorite Thanksgiving traditions? Do you say what you are thankful for? Have you reminded your kids that they have so much more than so many other people in this world? Do you struggle through the holidays? Let me know in the comments below.
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