Exploring Gratitude with Your Child

Do you wish that your children were more thankful and appreciative of all that they have in life? Exploring gratitude will not only help your child to appreciate their belongings, family and surroundings, but it will also help them to handle their emotions and build more resilience.

Here are some great tips from an independent school in London on how to explore gratitude with your child…

Be a good role model

Children learn from their parents, so it is important that you role model a grateful attitude for your child to replicate. Try to encourage gratefulness within your family by regularly pointing out how lucky you are. This could mean telling your children how lucky you feel to have them or being thankful for a delicious family meal.

Don’t complain

In the busy life of parenting it is hard not to get frustrated in front of our children. However, the more you complain, the more likely it is that your children will have the same attitude. Always try to find something positive in frustrating situations and discuss it. For example, “I know the queue is really long, but at least that gives us time to eat our picnic first!”

Show your appreciation

Teach your children to show their appreciation for others. For example, choose a thoughtful gift to thank a teacher or make a card to let a grandparent know how much they are loved. These small gestures teach children the importance of acknowledging the joy others bring into their lives.

Practice gratitude

Practise daily gratitude with your child, by helping them to identify all the positives in their life. Gratitude is such an effective technique for improving mental health and maintaining an optimistic attitude. A simple way to practise gratitude with your child is by writing a gratitude journal. You could do this each night at bedtime. Simply ask your child to write down three things they are grateful for or an event that made them happy.

This is a collaborative post