Radcliffe Thanksgiving:
Fostering An Attitude of Gratitude
Over and over research on resilience concludes that one of the best ways for children to live a life of happiness and fulfillment is to be taught how to be authentically grateful for the gifts they have in their lives. We all know grownups who spend their days bemoaning everything they don't have or the wrongs of others. None of us wants to sit next to that relative at Thanksgiving Dinner! Children who whine and tantrum about what they don't have are also hard to hang out with.
Gratitude is a skill that can easily be cultivated, and one can be grateful for a variety of reasons. We can be grateful for the acts of kindness by others, elements of beauty, the joys found in everyday life, etc. I believe teaching the skill of gratitude begins with helping your children to begin to notice all of the good things in their lives. For example, as you do errands together on Saturday, observe and talk about the beautiful butterfly on the flower, the kind man who held the door, or the delicious pie Dad bought for dessert. Exclaim your joy at finding a lost object or hearing a favorite song. Furthermore, gratitude begins with us modeling saying thank you to the restaurant server, shop keepers, the lady cleaning the airport bathroom, or a bus driver. Children often need guidance developing the ability to see beyond their own needs and feelings to see the acts of others and how those acts enrich our lives.
The dinner table and bedtime are also good times to practice gratitude. For example, at dinner, we often play the game "Rose, Thorn, Bud." Each family member will share the best situation that happened to them the day (the rose), the challenge that was the hardest (the thorn), and what they are looking forward to in the future (the bud). If your child has trouble falling asleep, teach her to list what she is grateful for in her life. Have her try to get to a thousand different blessings.
Teaching your children to stop, smell and be grateful for the "roses" is one of the best life skills you can impart. As with so many of the skills we try to teach our children, practicing gratitude together makes the bonds between you and your loved ones stronger.
Wishing you a lovely weekend with a thousand blessings!
Head of School