What is the attitude of gratitude? Why is gratitude important? How can I teach gratitude? These are all important questions to address when raising children. Ingraining the concept of gratitude into young minds is something that can be worked on a little every day; through your own actions, those of others, as well as through stories. When it comes to teaching children, it is often best to start by modeling the behavior you’d like them to adopt. By narrating your grateful thoughts, you can plant the seeds of gratitude in their minds and keep tending to them.
One of my favorite mind shifts that adopting a gratitude practice has given me is to think about how I “get” to do something instead of I “have” to do something. I get to go to the gym and take care of my body to help it stretch and get stronger. I get to load the dishwasher after a yummy meal shared with my loved ones. The shift in mindset helps reframe my thoughts to those of gratefulness and leads me to reminisce on other things that made my day easier or more enjoyable.
Now, how does one go about starting a gratitude practice on their mindfulness journey? By following the Four A’s of Gratitude, of course!
-
Awareness: Being grateful is closely tied to mindfulness. Through mindfulness, we can begin recognizing the parts of our lives where we can find things to be thankful for. Becoming aware of the helpful and positive things in your life often requires some self-reflection and taking the time to recognize the kindness you receive from others or just from life in general.
-
Appreciation: Once we can become more aware of the positive things in our own lives, the next step is to appreciate them. Going deeper than just thinking “that was nice,” appreciation asks you to sincerely acknowledge and comprehend the significance of the helpful, kind, and/or wonderful experiences, moments and things in your life.
-
Acceptance: Perhaps the easiest step to practice for some, acceptance is taking the appreciation of your experiences and letting them fill up your mind/heart/body with the warmth and comfort of the positive experiences you have. Let go of the urge to resist and begin to accept the goodness in your life because you deserve to live with an open heart.
-
Action: Now that we have fully felt the warmth of gratitude, we can start to radiate that gratitude out and take action to spread that joy. This can be done through thanking someone who does you a favor, helping a neighbor shovel their driveway in the winter after they helped you rake leaves in the autumn, or finding a way to pay it forward.
There are many ways to be grateful, and there are a plethora of things that get in the way of practicing gratitude. When you notice a decrease in the attitude of gratitude, it’s a good time to be gentle with yourself and find ways to reincorporate your gratitude practice into your routine. Here are some book suggestions to bring some stories of gratitude into your home, and you can find more on my gratitude booklist!
“Before We Eat: From Farm to Table” by Pat Brisson
This book tells the tale of a family who sits down to dinner and considers how their food got to them and all the folks who helped get it to their table. A great read to help children recognize how most of the things in our lives would not have arrived without the help of many other people.
“Dear Street” by Lindsay Zier-Vogel
Alice can see all the wonderful things her street is filled with; however, her neighbors see their street in a different light. Alice decides to write “Dear Street” love letters and waits for her neighbors to discover them. This book helps illustrate how the attitude of gratitude is spread and how, sometimes, we all need reminders of how to find glimmers of joy when life seems dull.
“Grow Grateful” by Sage Foster-Lasser and Jon Lasser
Follow along with Kiko and her class as they go on a camping trip and learn what it takes to be a “happy camper” (spoiler: it’s gratitude). Although this is not the most thrilling read, this book is a nice introduction to gratitude and is more of a text to open up a dialogue and answer questions. There is also a reader’s note to help give caregivers advice on how to teach an attitude of gratitude.
