How to teach your kids to be grateful

January 25, 2022 Post a Comment

Notation: this article is a guest post by Kelsey Paul, founder of The Whole N' Happy.

How do y'all go your kids to capeesh what they have instead of thinking almost what they want?

The short answer is to teach them gratitude...and make it fun!

Studies bear witness that when we accept a positive emotion while learning something, we are more likely to feel motivated to go along learning or practicing it.

This is why inserting playfulness and enjoyment into your gratitude exercise at home can help your kids feel motivated to go on doing it. Only outset, it'due south important to have a basic agreement of the pregnant and science behind gratitude in case your learner asks whatever questions!

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful, or the willingness to show appreciation for something. I explain it to kids past saying, "it means thinking about all of our haves, on purpose." Another fashion I say it is "an easy fashion to fill our own saucepan, so we can fill up others' buckets, as well."

However, gratitude not only makes us feel good. Information technology also changes our brain and enhances our mind-body connectedness!

The regions of our brain involved in practicing gratitude are associated with the neural networks that light upwards when nosotros experience pleasure. These same regions are strongly connected to the parts of the encephalon that regulate our emotions and provide stress relief.

Gratitude can meliorate our mental and concrete health over time and help those with depression.

This means a regular gratitude practise can significantly affect how we deal with stress and regulate our emotions in the future. Scientists say that gratitude can fifty-fifty amend our mental and physical wellness over time and help those with low.

Simply gratitude's benefits do accept time; studies accept found that the longer you practice gratitude, the greater consequence it has on your outlook on life and overall health.

The expert news is that like with any practice, the more you lot do it, the easier and more natural it becomes. Instead of gratitude merely being part of your routine, it transforms into a way of being. Our brains begin taking a more positive outlook. We start looking for what's going well in our lives instead of what could exist improved.

To recap, hither are 5 quick facts about gratitude to share with your kids:

Gratitude means being thankful.
Gratitude improves the mind-body connection.
Gratitude can positively impact your concrete and mental health.
The longer you practise gratitude, the greater the do good.
The more than you practice, the easier it gets.

How to make a gratitude do come alive for your learner

Here are a few elementary ways yous tin begin practicing gratitude with your family unit today.

Use a physical object for your gratitude exercise

Decorate a gratitude jar or box and spend time each week writing and reading your notes from the jar. Or create a gratitude periodical or bulletin board and practice writing in information technology at the same time, each day. Any the method, go far elementary and aligned to what your kids like to do!

*A gratitude jar busy to await like a robot.*

Testify and tell

Ane of the most empowering means to teach your child something is to arrive a part of your own life and model it to them. Show your kids what information technology sounds and feels similar to be thankful by sharing what you appreciate virtually them each dark. Share your ain listing of haves with them when they come up naturally in chat and ask them what they take in their lives that they cherish.

Brand gratitude fun and interactive

In my mindfulness courses on Outschool, I teach kids well-nigh gratitude through engaging activities, like drawing, listening to stories, and watching animated videos. Nosotros reverberate on how information technology feels to call up near what we want versus how information technology feels to remember about everything we already have.

At the terminate of grade, we do a gratitude challenge together, where we write or draw everything we are grateful for in only iii minutes. Afterwards those iii minutes, I nigh always hear kids exclaim, "that was fun" or "tin can nosotros practice that once again?"

Create a ritual together

Inquiry says that nosotros are more likely to make something a habit if we practice it at the same time each day or week. Create a family ritual together by having each member of your family unit share their "haves" each night at dinner or during your bedtime routine. You can too add themes to each night's gratitude practice. For instance, one night share the foods you are thankful for and another night, share the toys or objects you are almost thankful for.

Focus on process instead of results

Take time to practise things with your kids without an stop goal . This helps them focus on the now and create experiences where they are doing things for their own sake, instead of a form, a win, or a compliment. The more we focus on the process, the less we focus on the "finish line" or what nosotros don't have. Gratitude works the aforementioned way: the more than we focus on what nosotros do take, the less we need to call up near our wants.

*A collage of learner-created gratitude jars.*

Bring your children's awareness to others' situations

Some other meaningful way to help kids feel grateful is to give to others who have less. Include your kid in altruistic toys or wearing apparel to those in need, or volunteering with them at a food bank. This helps your kids empathise the meaning of needs and wants through experience, and it naturally leads to accurate conversations about existence thankful for what nosotros take.

A gratitude practice is a simple manner to help your kids build resilience and meliorate their mental health during a time of heightened stress and anxiety. Across simply an activeness that learners can have, it somewhen fifty-fifty can get a positive part of their identity!