Teaching Thankfulness and Gratitude
Hey there…If you are a parent, grandparent or future parent, I am writing this blog post to you. This year, as the weather has turned colder and the leaves are falling, I’m reminded of a very important holiday that is just over a month away…Thanksgiving.
I love Thanksgiving! Many years ago, when my son was very young, I decided to start a holiday tradition. That tradition was to never start our Thanksgiving meal without first going around the table and having everyone tell what they are thankful for.
The first few years my son was okay with ‘Momma’s tradition’ but once he was in high school and we began inviting people that were not immediate family (sometimes his friends), he began a little eye rolling. I could just hear his non-spoken words, “Seriously, Mom, this is embarrassing!”
However, he is now a college graduate, married and expecting his first child and I can honestly say that in the last few years, I’ve seen a shift. Not only are his eyes no longer rolling but his answers are more profound and thoughtful.
Being thankful isn’t just a once a year thing in our home. Our lives haven’t always been easy. Just like every family we’ve had very happy times but we’ve also had some extremely tough times. Those painful times include being homeless after losing everything in Hurricane Katrina, living in less than ideal circumstances, depending on others for food and clothing and I could go on.
However, through it all, I had to make a conscious decision, often daily and sometimes even minute by minute, to choose thankfulness and gratitude.
My name is Lynda Ackert. I am a wife, a mother, a soon-to-be grandmother and the owner of My Teaching Library.
Today, my heart is to write to you about purposeful gratitude. As Thanksgiving approaches, my hope is that this reaches at least one momma (or daddy) that needs to be reminded that our children are always watching and learning from us and how we choose to live life.
Are we demonstrating a life of thankfulness and gratitude?
We can teach every subject (reading, writing, history, math, science…), using the best curriculum on the market, but that curriculum can’t teach our children the most valuable lessons of life. Life will teach these lessons and you are your children’s best teacher.
I do hope you’ll take a little space…right now to ask yourself, “What am I truly thankful for and how am I demonstrating my gratitude in front of my children?”
If anything I’ve written today has touched you in a positive way, please feel free to let me know. You can find me on My Teaching Library’s FB group or you can email me on my website’s contact form.
Typically when I write, I share about the educational products you can find on My Teaching Library but that wasn’t my purpose today. However, in the next couple weeks, I will be sharing some fun, Thanksgiving themed MTL products with you on my FB group. I’ll also be asking parents to share about their special family traditions, so I hope you’ll join me!
Many blessings to you,
Lynda
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