Does gratitude really matter? According to recent studies, journaling for five minutes a day about what you are grateful for can enhance your long-term happiness by over 10%. You feel more positive about your life. Focusing on what you have increases your self-esteem and enhances your positive emotions. And for someone experiencing stress or depression, gratitude is a protective factor when it comes to suicidal ideation. You become more optimistic, more giving and less materialistic. You enjoy greater life satisfaction. And when you become happier your relationships improve. You have access to more social support.
What are you grateful for today?
How can you teach your children to be grateful? The most powerful teacher for your child is your example.
Do your children hear you expressing gratitude? Do they know you are grateful for them? There are challenges and problems to solve as a parent, but there are also blessings. Do your children hear you talking about the benefits of being a parent? And specifically, being THEIR parent. Do they hear you expressing gratitude for the beauty of nature? Your home? Job? Extended family members and friends? Car, furniture, and other material possessions? Not all families own a car, a house or have enough food to eat.
How do you express your gratitude for and around your children?
Are you concerned that your children are becoming entitled? Maybe they show indications that they consider everything you provide for them as their “right”. They may even begin focusing more on what they don’t have, failing to appreciate what they do have. They may need you to point out the good things they enjoy that other children their age don’t have.
Take some time to visit the areas where families live in poverty. In the United States most families own at least one car, but in Brazil only 366 out of a thousand people own a car. Not every child their age has a smart phone. They may need to be reminded, in a gentle loving way, of the many blessings they enjoy. Maybe writing daily in a gratitude journal could become a family practice.
What do you do to help your children feel gratitude?
Do you appreciate something more if you had to pay for it either through time or money? You don’t always value what is given to you for free. Sometimes what you appreciate most are the things you had to pay a great price for–like the ideal job, a healthy, loving relationship, tickets to a concert of your favorite performer that you had to sacrifice to get, saving up to purchase your dream car.
It is easy to buy things for your children and just give them what they want. How about allowing them to experience the joy of earning it? Help them set goals, provide them with extra work to earn money, encourage them to spend their time and money in exchange for something they value. They may be resistant at first. After all, it is easier to get something for free. However, they will value and be more grateful for something they had to earn.
What does your child want that they would appreciate more if they earned?
How do you feel when you have been able to help someone else? This is another way to bring gratitude into your life.
Do you include your children when you serve others? Let them experience that joy as well. Take them with you when you are helping with a community project or taking a meal to a neighbor who is sick. Are there service projects where you live that your family could participate in? Habitat for Humanity helps build homes for families in need. Many communities have projects to clean up parks that rely on volunteers. Some families plan an annual service trip. It’s a package deal. They travel, enjoy the sites, and then spend a day as volunteers to meet a local need. This strengthens family bonds as you work together, helps children realize there are many people less fortunate, and allows all family members to feel the joy of service.
How can your family serve others?
