Teaching Our Children Gratitude – 14 Tips To Help Children Be Grateful – Ep 80

In a recent Huffington Post article, Paula Spencer Scott of Kinstantly.com wrote about Psychologist Jeffrey Froh, a professor and leading gratitude researcher who wrote a book called “Making Grateful Kids: The Science of Building Character.  He wrote about this thing called “culture of appreciation”.  In order to do this we have to recognize 3 things: 1) The intent: that somebody put me first 2) The cost: what someone gave up for me 3) The benefit: what I got out of it An  example you would say to your child:  “Hey Rosemary, that was pretty nice of Sara to help you with your math when she knew you were struggling [intent]  I can’t beleive she gave up for soccer time to help you [cost] – but how great that you now know your four times-tables [benefit] Here are 14 Tips to Help Children Be Grateful: 1. Teach them to say Thank You – We do this when they are very little 2. Have them write a thank you note – birthdays, holidays 3. Read books or poems about gratitude – Go to Amazon and type in gratitude books for kids 4. Share stories about their past 5. Share stories about their family history 6. At a meal, everyone shares something they are thankful for.  We do this at Thanksgiving, but I can see it needs to be done more often. 7. Write or say what they are thankful about someone within their own family 8. Notice little things, like in nature 9. Have them make something for someone else – draw a picture, build something 10. Have them do something nice for a neighbor – rake leaves, wash their car, take out their trash 11. Give them experiences versus stuff 12. Help them figure out what matters to them – …