Teaching Children Gratitude

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving.

...

I think it boils down to their expectations. When children are handed everything they want, regardless of the complexity of where these things and / or benefits come from, they are naturally going to feel right. I'll freely admit I have contributed to this generational chaos ... I can not give my kids enough and they were regaled with the things and benefits as best I can deliver.

So how do we counter the right attitude? I think we should teach our children's appreciation. Maybe we even need to learn to thank him.

Thanksgiving can take many forms. From learning to recognize and appreciate the spiritual life of the view that teaching children to send thank you cards for birthday gifts and other matters. Children must learn the basic humility to understand that life owes them everything they could possibly want or desire. They should realize that when they give a gift or an advantage, there is a victim of the donor, whether big or small, and they must recognize that these gifts are not their birth right. If mom or dad buy Sally pricey, but the coveted doll for Christmas, Sally needs to understand the value and intent behind the gift, not that it will always get what he wants just because she wants it. I think that the tradition of Santa Claus, naughty and nice list is meant to teach children this important lesson ... expectations of good conduct, integrity, honesty, kindness (whatever) must be met in order to reap the rewards to be 'good' or parents' meetings and social expectations.

This month, the United States, we celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of the month. Tradition is an excellent example of the importance of gratitude and thankful for our luck to all the good and rewarding in our lives. While we do not normally say grace before eating at our house, we always say grace before Thanksgiving dinner. Our tradition is all on the table holding hands and each person has a chance to say what they are thankful. For the very young, this could manifest itself in "I'm thankful for my puppy " or "I'm thankful for having passed my math test last week." It does not really matter what kids choose to be thankful for this issue to learn to be thankful and to appreciate the good fortune and used when they occur. In essence, they learn that life is not just all about them and that is life and life's goodness is a gift, not something you expect or take for granted. This teaches children humility, which is not the same as false modesty or denial of how wonderful and special they are. Humility is a sense of gratitude for life's blessings, the awareness that life can be difficult at times, but that's a good time, family and loved ones to cherish.

I'd like to challenge all our readers of parents to counter the right attitude in our children today. Teach them that life and life's bounty is cherished, respected and honored for the gift.