“…and be thankful.” This is from Colossians 3: 15, but there are many other places throughout God’s Word where we are instructed to be thankful. We are also told (in Romans 1:21) the consequences of not honouring God or giving thanks to Him. Such people become “futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.” We don’t want to be such people, and neither do we want that for our children.
We need to start with us – besides us being thankful out of obedience to God and for our own well-being, we are role models for our children. We teach good behaviour to our children, but so much is “caught” rather than “taught.”
One little phrase has helped me: “I get to.” Instead of “I have to do the laundry,” (heavy sigh), “I get to do the laundry!” Doing the laundry means we have clothes to wear, and machines to get them clean and dry. Instead of “I have to make dinner,” “I get to make dinner.” We have food!
We can begin saying these things out loud, and putting on a good attitude. Did you know that God tells us to “put on” things, such as compassion, kindness, humlity, meekness and patience? (Col. 3:17). We actually need to actively put on these things, and while we are at it, we should “put on” a good and grateful attitude. No one said it came naturally.
Another thing you can do, along with your children, is have a “gratitude journal.” Every day, you can sit down together (maybe at the beginning of the day) and all write at least three things you are thankful for, in your journals. If your children are too young to write, they can still have a journal and they can dictate to you. Repeats are allowed, but encourage your children to find new things, as well.
While our main focus is gratitude to God, the giver of all good gifts, we can also cultivate being grateful to each other, again, starting with you, the parent. Does everyone thank whoever cooked or prepared the meal? That’s a great thing to do. If you are the one who cooks, enlist your spouse to say “Thank you for dinner” and to tell your children to do so as well. You can thank the children for doing their chores, whether they’ve set the table, or vacuumed the floor. One of our children started the practise of thanking whoever was driving when we arrived at our desination – “Thank you for driving us.” I have had to chuckle when I have insisted that my children go somewhere that they don’t want to go, and when we get there, they have automatically said, “Thank you, Mom, for driving us.”
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we and our children won’t be pouring out gratitude in a day, either, but just like muscles that we need to exercise, we can exercise our thankful muscle (as can our children) and watch it grow!
