Every day I try my best to instill gratitude in my children. I’m not a perfect mom by any means, but I try my best.
Something I’ve started doing recently to teach thankfulness to my kids (especially my youngest, who is in Kindergarten) is talk to them about how wonderful it is to say THANK YOU to others.
The simple act of going up to someone and saying thank you makes a huge difference to a young child. Not only do they get to experience someone smiling at them for something they did, it also teaches them good manners! A total bonus!
How to Raise an Appreciative Child
I am on a mission to raise appreciative kids. Some days I don’t know if I’m doing it right, but every little step we can take away from entitlement and towards appreciation is a step in the right direction.
Children are so innocent and loving on their own. They LOVE to make others feel good by doing good deeds. The positive feedback they get when they show thankfulness to others plants little seeds of compassion in their hearts. Sometimes it seems like they don’t get the message, but then all of sudden they surprise me by doing a good deed for me and ask me to tell them if what they did was good. It warms my heart!!
They’re getting it. Slowly but surely, they’re getting it. 🙂
I don’t believe we have to deprive our children in order to raise them to be grateful. Even children who have never wanted for anything in their lives can have kind, grateful hearts. I want my children to be kind and appreciative, no matter what their circumstances. I think if we can model overall thankfulness and appreciation to others, our kids will pick up on the attitude.
We followed this “thankfulness checklist” for 30 days & loved it. You can use this easy printable challenge below. I hope it helps your kids adopt an appreciative attitude; I truly believed it helped my kids! 
Teach Thoughtfulness with One Kind Act Each Day
Figuring out exactly how to teach gratitude verbally is hard to do. I mean, how do you put into words something you must feel deep in your heart? It seems to me that the act of showing gratitude is easier to demonstrate than describe.
This led me to create a printable to make it into sort of a game.
I find that when I can do things according to a calendar or checklist, the kids are more likely to get excited about participating as well. They just love checking things off as we do them! 🙂 I also like checklists and calendars because they’re easy to keep track of and fun to mark off the tasks. Easy means that I’ll do it!
Free Printable 30 Days of Gratitude Challenge
If you’re with me on teaching kids compassion, gratitude, and thankfulness, then download the 30 Days of Thankfulness printable. Stick this gratitude printable on your fridge and explain to the kids what it’s all about. They’ll love checking off their thankful tasks.
Click on the link or image below to get this free printable. You’ll not only get this, but access to my entire printables library!
Click here to get the Free 30 Days of Gratefulness Printable >>
Showing gratitude is half the challenge of having a heart of thankfulness. Even if you feel thankful on the inside, it doesn’t compare to actually telling something you are thankful for them. This is the overall lesson I’m trying to teach my kids with this challenge.
I think kids of all ages can benefit from this activity. Heck, I even grew in mindfulness from it! My kids are 10, 7, and 5, and this printable is a great way to teach thankfulness to preschoolers, kids, or teens. As my Nana always says,
“Nobody on this earth is too old to become more grateful for what they have. I’m a thousand year’s old, Honey, and I am thankful for every day! Here today, gone tomorrow!”
Come back and let me know how your family liked these acts of thankfulness and gratitude!
How do you instill gratitude in your kids?
More from WhatMommyDoes
Leave a Reply