Gratefulness

I am so extremely grateful for each of our sweet children, but that's actually not what I primarily want to write about. What I want to write about is how to cultivate a grateful spirit in children. It is soooo encouraging to hear our children say, "Thanks mom and dad, for..."(whatever the thing might be). One thing that we have found really cultivates gratefulness in our children is if their expectations are set, by not overloading them with stuff or having all of their desires met. For example, last week David took the kids out for breakfast. They went to get bagels and David got them each an orange juice. When they got home they each told me (separately) about how they got an orange juice and 1 1/2 bagels. They were so excited! Then David told me that they thanked him at least 3 times for the orange juice. They didn't expect the orange juice, and were so grateful to get it when they got their bagels.

I also read something a couple of years ago that I think is helpful (and true!). Being grateful, as parents, helps our children to be grateful. So, for example, it is more helpful to make a point of being particularly grateful to a waiter/waitress at a restaurant than it is to constantly remind our children to say "Thank you." I might remind our kids to say "thank you" sometimes, but mostly I try to point out how grateful I am for how other people serve us (e.g. "Wow. Wasn't that nice of that waiter to refill our waters? He is serving us.") Kids catch on to this and remember (at least some of the time!) that we should be grateful for the many ways that people serve us every day.

I'd love to hear how some of you cultivate gratefulness in your children, or how you keep a grateful spirit yourselves!