Enrolling NOW for our 2020 Summer Camp and the 2020-2021 VPK School Year! Enroll now to ensure your child has a spot in our educational & thrilling Summer Camp and our elite VPK Program!
It’s easy to forget, once you’ve reached your ripe, old age as an adult, that not everything you know was instilled in you from the womb. It took years of conditioning, teaching, learning and, of course, many humbling experiences to understand many of the behaviors and patterns in our lives that we take for granted.
Whether it’s your habit of brushing your teeth before bed, which developed in the aftermath of a few cavities, or it’s your habit of saying a prayer before each meal which was something your grandma taught, there are a lot of things you do that you didn’t always do.
Children are incredibly intelligent beings. They understand the importance of certain behaviors inherently or through their own set of experiences, while other concepts are completely foreign to them. It’s where we, as parents and educators come in, teaching them the difference between ‘good habits’ and ‘not so great’—remember to avoid negative words and phrases like ‘bad’—habits.
What’s a key habit or attitude parents forget to inculcate in their kids?
The attitude of gratitude!
Sure, we teach them basic pleasantries and responses such as thankyous and pleases, but gratitude extends far beyond a simple word of thanks.
It’s a way of being, an attitude and a consistent outlook by which you perceive the world and your life. A lot of adults don’t possess gratitude either, which is why it’s important to start young and instill these life-long values in our kids from the get-go.
It’s not about depriving them or beating them into submission, terrifying them to the point where they only say and do things out of fear of consequences. Gratitude is something that comes from within and should be treated as such. It’s a sense of wellbeing, happiness, and feeling truly content with everything one has, which of course, has a host of benefits itself.
From leading more fulfilling careers and personal lives to avoiding stress, burnout and overall higher quality of sleep, physical health and mental and emotional health. It’s essentially the key to leading a better, more successful and happier life.
Teaching your children gratitude is something that will stay with them for an entire lifetime. When you look at any great leader in the world, the home is where they first learned gratitude, empathy and the desire to give back. Whether that came from being taught those things or having had to learn them from tough life experiences, these are all the keys to a successful life.
It’s not just something that improves the individual life; gratitude makes the lives of people around you better too. It’s something that catches on and spreads like wildfire. It’s something that earns you respect and blessings in return, taking off a lot of tensions that might otherwise be present. A simple gesture that you or your child makes out of gratitude could be the thing that changes somebody’s life!
How do I teach my child to be more grateful?
Practicing gratitude is a team effort. It wouldn’t be fair to expect your child to be grateful all the time when they’re not given a role model to look up to. You must come together as a household, as a family, to practice gratitude.
To begin with, though, try to define what gratitude means to you. It’s not humanly possible to be happy and content all the time—that’s not gratitude either. It means to make peace with any situation that comes your way, and practice positive thinking and seeing the value in what you do possess.
It’s to live each day and face each situation with a can-do attitude and knowing you’ll make it out alive. Knowing that no matter what curveball comes your way, you still possess health and wealth and family—or anything that keeps you going.
These are all pretty big ideas though. So how do you pass them on to your kids?
1) Practice Gratitude Together, Especially as a Parent
Come together as a family to be grateful, make a habit of saying earnest and sincere thankyous and showing that you value each other and everything you have.
Small things can make a big difference. For instance, when you’re dropping them off to our preschool and daycare each morning, remind them how lucky they are that they get to spend that time with their friends. There is a fine line between teaching gratitude and making them feel indebted, however, so tread carefully.
2) Count and Name Your Blessings
Use charts, visuals, media—what’s better than exercising thankfulness for their own devices?—and any other means that proves effective for this. Sit down and go over things that you’re thankful for, from each other to your favorite outfits, foods you like, things you get to do.
Whatever it is that you count as a blessing, name it and vocalize how glad you are to have it. Doing this as a family or just one on one with your kids is an intimate experience and doesn’t need to be somber. Have fun with it!
3) Don’t Overindulge or Spoil Them, or Ask them For a Contribution
It’s easy to give in as parents. Everything you do is for your child and their happiness, and nothing means more than that. However, when you give in to every demand, reasonable or otherwise, you’re teaching them that they can get whatever they want, whenever. They’ll take everything for granted this way, not realizing what they have is enough.
A good way to combat spoilt behavior is to ask them to pitch in when they want something. They’ll realize the value of things and feel a greater attachment and thankfulness for it.
4) Teach Them the Importance of Sharing and Giving Back
This one’s incredibly important. It’s a humbling experience unlike any other, teaching kids the value of things that they’re fortunate enough to own. Take them along to charity events, hospital visits, homeless shelters and sow the seeds of compassion. Gratitude is a natural part of this experience because they’ll realize they have more than they need, and hopefully want to share.
At our preschool in Oviedo, FL, we practice sharing and try our best to instill the desire to give back in your child.
5) Look at the Bright Side
Learn to see the bright side together even on the darkest days. Don’t let whatever happens to cloud your or your child’s view of the world. See the positive side of things together and you won’t regret it.
With the support of parents, we hope to help all our students become generous, well-rounded individuals, with a sense of awareness and the attitude of gratitude! To learn more about our private preschool and daycare programs, contact us here.