Practice generosity and gratitude with your kids

“What are you thankful for this year?” Answering that question as you sit around a full table with your family is a popular Thanksgiving tradition. It symbolizes what makes Thanksgiving special. It is a holiday that’s about togetherness, generosity, and gratitude. But, answering that question can be tough if you haven’t made a habit of gratitude. This can be especially true for young children.

It can be hard for toddlers and preschoolers to wrap their heads around the concepts of gratitude and generosity. They are naturally self-focused because you’ve been meeting all of their needs since they were an infant. It feels to them like the world simply revolves around them. If you want your children to grow up to be kind, empathetic people, you have to work with them on learning to practice these values.

Teaching your little ones to be more thankful won’t just give them a good answer for your Thanksgiving feast. Practicing thankfulness will help them value the care, attention and good things that they receive. Practicing generosity will teach them that it feels good to care for others.

Generosity and gratitude go hand-in-hand. When you offer your time and resources to others in need, you become more grateful for the help you’ve been given and all that you have.

How to Teach Gratitude

The best way to teach your children about gratitude and generosity is to model it at home. Here are three simple ways that you can teach your children these important values all year round:

1. Ask your kids to help you.

It can be hard to hand over tasks to your kids. Even baking a batch of cookies or setting the table takes much longer when young children help. Nevertheless, asking your kids to lend a hand around the house teaches them to be generous with their time. It also allows them to learn that it feels good to help others. Even if they find the chore boring, they’ll feel great when you thank them for it. Discovering how good it feels to be thanked can help them understand the importance of thanking others.

2. Share what you’re grateful for.

Sharing what you are grateful for at the moment is another way to help your children learn gratitude. Kids learn by parroting the behavior of the people around them. When they see you thanking others and expressing gratitude, they’ll be more likely to do it as well. When you thank your kids, be sure to tell them why. For example, “Thank you for helping me bake cookies for our neighbor! I enjoyed spending time with you and it made this chore more fun.” It makes a bigger impact when you share why you are thankful.

3. Give to others together.

Doing charitable activities with your kids is another way to teach them the value of generosity. There are many fun activities that you can do with your children to help others. You could participate in a community event like Park Day to help beautify a local park. You could bake a meal together for a friend or neighbor who is recovering from surgery. At this time of year, one of the best things you can do together is to collect toys, clothes or non-perishable foods to donate to people in need. From now until November 22, you can participate in our Can-a-Thon Food Drive by drop off cans of food at Kids R Kids Avalon Park!

If you get frustrated with your kids this holiday season for acting ungrateful or entitled, don’t give up! Remember that learning the art of appreciation and kindness takes time. (We all know adults who still haven’t mastered them.) Your kids will learn and grow into caring, thankful people if you continue to do these three things with them.

We hope that you’ll practice these values with us by participating in the Can-a-Thon Food Drive to help families in need this Thanksgiving season!