Previously Published by Sierra Style and is entirely revised and rewritten.
Parenting
involves more than just keeping our children safe and well-fed. Our responsibilities extend to teaching our
children fundamental life skills preparing them for a well-mannered, socially
savvy future. Truly, your child will have no better teacher in his life. We all recognize this. So, as teachers, how do we teach our children
the essential life skill ‘to be thankful’?
Where to Begin
It
seems like we could simply tell our children to say, “thank you” and that
should be sufficient. But for our
children to learn thankfulness we need to do more than just talking-the-talk. Thankfulness is something they must
feel. Still, we must begin with those
magic words, while teaching basic manners. Basic manners and expressing our
thankfulness help our children learn, and feel, empathy and respect, which are
vital tools for teaching our children to be thankful. In other words, we must walk-the-walk.
Can’t My Child Learn Thankfulness by Receiving More Gifts?
One
of the biggest problems we face as parents these days is our busy schedule. We work long hours, our travel time is extensive,
and our children’s schedules require professional organizing skills by age
seven. Add to this mix that many of us
tend to compensate for the lack of time spent with our children by buying them
‘things’ and it is easier to understand why our children may not be as thankful
as they could be.
Continuing
to give our children more ‘things’ creates an expectation of receiving more and
never having enough. Gifts
should be reflective, time appropriate, and given for a reason. Typical gift-giving events are fine if there
is some restraint involved.
For
example, a young child doesn’t require 20 gifts for her birthday. Yet, rewarding a child for an accomplishment
such as raising his grades is very appropriate.
Teach the Importance of Giving
Learning
to give to others is another valuable exercise to help create empathy and
thankfulness. Praise your child for
performing special favors such as helping a neighbor who recently underwent
surgery or for volunteering during the holiday season.
Today,
entire families are gathering items for children in need, as well as choosing
to spend Thanksgiving providing food for the homeless instead of gaining a few
pounds at the family dinner table.
Write Thank-You Notes
Sit
with your children to write thank-you notes
for gifts and for special favors. A
great example of this is for your child to write a thank-you note to the parent
of his friend who not only hauled his group of friends to a recent event, but
also chaperoned without complaining.
Children won’t realize that this is something for which to be thankful
without parental intervention. The point is that we want to demonstrate that
good behavior should be recognized.
Be The Model of Thankfulness and Giving
Finally,
to teach we must first model positive behaviors. When we model thankful behavior, our children
learn quickly. Becoming a thankful
person is a learned behavior. So, when your
children behave politely or without provocation perform thoughtful tasks, such
as clearing the dinner table, behave in a thankful manner. Be thankful, demonstrate thankful behavior,
and your child will become a thankful person.
More
by The Polite One
Etiquette
101: Top Three Gum Chewing No-No’s
Yikes!
Cell Phone Abuser is at it Again! I Can Help With That
Comments
Post a Comment