5 Ways To Teach Your Kids Thankfulness

By: Naomi Middleton

Teaching our kids thankfulness is such an important part of parenting. Thankfulness is something that we have to remind ourselves of daily. Here are a few ways to teach your kids to be thankful.

1. Make a Thankful Jar

   This is a fun and really practical way to teach our kids about thankfulness. At the beginning of November (or any month), set out a jar out somewhere in your house. Everyday, take a few moments with your kids to write one or two things you are thankful for and put them in the jar. At the end of the month, dump the jar out and read all the things that your family wrote down throughout the month.

2. Remind Them to Say “Thank You”

   Reminding our kids to say “thank you” might seem too simple. However, it is the small habits that often teach the biggest lessons. We can remind our kids to say “thank you” when they get something. We also need to remind our kids to say' “thank you” even when someone gives them something that they don’t want.

3. Read About Thankfulness

   Reading books about a topic is one of the easiest and most effective ways to teach our kids about a new concept. Get a stack of about 10 books on a topic and read through them before nap-time and bedtime. Not only does this provide good quality time with our children but it also is a great time to talk about things like thankfulness.

4. Don’t Give Them Everything They Want

   Not giving our kids everything that want/ask for is also part of teaching them thankfulness. When we give our kids everything they ask for, they won’t learn how to be thankful (they will learn how to be entitled). Part of teaching thankfulness is teaching our kids that they can’t have everything that they want.

5. Model Thankfulness

   And finally, our kids not only need to hear us taking about thankfulness but they need to see us modeling thankfulness. While reading books is probably one of the easiest way to teach thankfulness, modeling thankfulness is probably the hardest way. Our kids need to hear us talking about what we are thankful for. They need to see us being grateful for what God has given us.