Exploring Gratitude with Your Child

There are many benefits to showing gratitude. For one, it helps us to acknowledge the people that we have in our lives, feel more content and connected to the world around us. According to research, this can help children significantly with their mental health and development at school. To explore gratitude with your child, look at this guide created by one of the UK’s top boarding schools.

Steps of Gratitude

There are 4 parts to gratitude according to the Raising Grateful Children Project. You can help your child to show their gratitude by exploring each one of these.

1. Noticing – Realising what you have to be grateful for.
2. Thinking – Considering why they’ve been given to you.
3. Feeling – Exploring how you feel as a result.
4. Doing – Acts to express gratitude and appreciation.

Acts of Kindness

You don’t need to make grand gestures to make someone feel important and appreciated. Acts of kindness can be just as effective and make them feel valued. To help your child with this, get them to think about things that their friends and family have expressed to them. Is there anything that they would like help with or is there anything that they need?

Saying Grace

This isn’t religiously exclusive as anyone can perform this ritual. Before dinner, take a moment to hold hands and talk about what you have to be grateful for. This ritual can make exploring gratitude become a regular part of family life.

Hidden Blessings

Often when the unexpected happens we sit and dwell on what could have been. Sometimes things happen for the best and teach us valuable lessons. For example, they may have gotten in trouble so that they don’t do anything dangerous and potentially injure themselves. Get your child to reflect on these whenever things don’t go their way. You’ll find that they will be happier and less stressed.

This is a collaborative post.