Ways to Motivate Children to Be Thankful

The Covid-19 global pandemic has completely disrupted our everyday life and brought it to screeching halt.As parents we must take it as an opportunity to bring some focus to take some time to teach our children with gratitude and optimism.By cultivating these attributes in our children, we position them well to maintain a healthy outlook into their teen years and adulthood. But being grateful and thankful isn't something that children inherently understand; they need to be taught and shown thankfulness and given the opportunities to practice gratitude all year long. Here are meaningful ways to teach your kid to be thankful- Dramatic play builds understanding Dramatic play or pretend play allows children to expand their understanding of the "other". By playing out a scene as a person other than themselves, they are challenged to experience the emotions of their character. This type of play helps children to access emotional awareness that can contribute to empathy and gratitude towards others. Bring the focus of the day to the good One of the principles that my house lives by is that attitude is a choice. We have the power to choose how we approach situations, both good and bad, and we can choose to have a good day and a positive experience. Making many choices throughout the day, we believe it is also important to recap the highlights of the day, focusing on the good and facilitating the opportunity for children to share the good they have experienced. This recap shines a new light on good things and can help bring attention to our good fortune.