How to Teach Your Kids Gratitude This Holiday Season

They say Christmas is a time for giving, but let’s be honest; children don’t always see it that way, quite the opposite, in fact. Most kids spend the bulk of December creating wish lists and worrying whether they’ll get everything they want. So, it can be challenging to rein in that self-centeredness and get them to focus on being grateful for what they have and what they receive and to focus on others for a change.

Let’s look at some helpful tips you can use to encourage your children to be thankful during a time of the year when it’s easy and often encouraged to be selfish.

Teach Them About Giving

We’ve all heard the adage, “It’s better to give than to receive,” and maybe told this to our kids, but getting them to believe it, especially during Christmastime, is next to impossible. However, instilling in your children the spirit of giving during the holidays can inspire them to carry that with them throughout the year. Here are a few ideas.

Emphasize Family Activity

One vital lesson for your kids to learn to make them into well-rounded adults is to teach them that life isn’t about what you get, it’s what you do, and this is even more true during the holidays. With so much emphasis on gift-giving and receiving, many families lose sight of the importance of being together.

During Christmastime, make sure you enjoy as many activities as you can together, like decorating the tree, preparing holiday meals, shopping, playing in the snow, caroling, movie nights, etc. Family activities take the focus off gifts and put it on being together, which is what Christmas and the holidays should be about. Most adults forgot the many gifts they received when they were kids, but still cherish the memories of doing things together as a family and participating in traditions they can pass on to their kids.

Get Involved in a Charity

Whether helping at a soup kitchen or raising money for a homeless shelter, getting your kids involved in a charity is an excellent way to teach them the joy of giving and help them put life into perspective, and to be grateful for the things they already have.

Send An Extra Snack to School

If you send your kids to school with a lunch, let them pick an extra snack they can take and hand out to a friend, someone they don’t know, or someone who is less fortunate. Virtually every child knows someone in need or isn’t the most popular, so allowing them to be the one who shows kindness, and teaching them how important it is, can be a great learning experience.

Write Thank You Cards

As mentioned, it’s all too easy for kids to get wrapped up in what they get during the holidays that they fail to think that someone went through the effort to give them a gift, even if it’s not something that was on their list or something they really wanted. However, it’s vital to teach your children to say thank you and appreciate what others have done for them. So, your kids will probably want to shoot off a text or email saying thanks; get them to sit down and write a heartfelt thank you card and mail it. Why is this essential? Because it takes effort and will help them better appreciate the gift giver’s effort.

Be a Role Model

Children learn much of their behavior and values from their parents, so the earlier you start teaching them, the better. If you want your kids to be more grateful during the holidays and for the rest of their lives, start with yourself. Slow down this holiday season and look for ways to be more thankful, giving, and charitable. If your kids see that being grateful is essential to you, it will probably become vital to them.

Start a Gratitude Journal

Another excellent way to teach your kids to be thankful is to start a gratitude journal in which they write every day for a specified time (ten days, a month) about something they’re grateful for. This is another activity you can do as a family, where everyone writes something and shares it.

Studies show that being grateful is something most children learn instead of being innate. So, the sooner you begin teaching them how to feel and express gratitude, the better adults they’ll grow up.