Teaching Kids to Be Grateful for What They Have

You might have heard a lot of people discuss that kids these days don't have good manners. They behave rudely and are not thankful. Why were children of the past well-behaved, unlike the present generation? It all boils down to values and how parents brought them up. As a parent, you need to teach your children the importance of good manners.

There are lot of things that come under good manners. There are things like empathy, helping others, kindness, respect for elders, truthfulness, being polite etc. One such excellent quality which everyone of us, children and adults alike, should possess is the quality of being grateful to God for the innumerable favors He has bestowed on us. Let us see how we can help our children to develop this habit in themselves.

1. Set an example - It is best to teach young kids by example. Set the example yourself by showing gratitude to the Almighty for His blessings. You should not only be thankful and grateful to God, but also to other human beings who help you. Whenever someone does anything for you, thank them and pray for them. As your kids watch this, they too can develop the same habit.

Even when your own kids do something for you, like helping with household chores, don't forget to show your appreciation. How many parents thank their own kids or show appreciation when kids help them? Not many. Most parents think they don't need to thank their own kids, but they are wrong. You are setting a bad example for your children.

2. Gratitude journal - Everyday in the morning, ask them to sit down for 10 minutes with a pen and paper and list down all the things that they are grateful for in their life. The list could contain simple things like having parents, new shirt, new bag, old toys which they still like, food to eat etc. Ask them to list as many things as they could think of.

If they do this regularly, their focus can shift from what things they lack in their life to what blessings they possess. This is an important shift and can be helpful in developing a positive mindset in children.

3. Notice the little things - Teach your kids to be thankful and happy for the little things in life. Many of us fail to notice small blessings which are in fact very important. But we don't pay much attention to these blessings. We are preoccupied with complaining about things which others have and we don't. There are so many people in the world who don't have enough to eat even a single time in a day. Having enough food to eat 3 times a day is a great blessing which most of us don't value.

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