Teaching Kids to Be Thankful

We may have one day a year dedicated to being thankful, but even during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, a time a giving, kids find it hard to be thankful. Instead, kids generally stare wide-eyed at commercials on television with whimpers of, "I want," every few seconds. In a society that has developed with materialism ranking high on the list, how can we teach children thankfulness for what they have, as well as to give to others generously?

Getting Kids Involved

I have kids, they know what it means to want something grand, especially for the holidays. Last week, in our church service, our pastor told a story about several local families that had children their age that were homeless. My children immediately asked how they could help. They do have big hearts, just like all children do, and so we can turn these lessons into milestone stories in their lives and use this as an opportunity to teach children thankfulness through Christian principles.

The project through the church was for us to go through old toys in our rooms, and pick out toys that were good, had no broken pieces and to share these with children that cannnot afford new toys. These toys are being collected and will be distributed to our own community. Projects like these get children involved, however, they have to start with an open door. Kids don't understand the reason for specific projects, any by providing a link, we can make liven their experiences. For my children, the story alone was enough. Maybe a book, or a visit to a local shelter might be beneficial, especially for older kids.

In my classroom with younger students at the beginning of October, we participated in a food drive. I have 12 students in my class, and we discussed the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, and how the canned food that we would bring in would help to make a difference to the people that didn't have enough food to eat. Collectively, our class had over 300 items of canned goods to share with a local food pantry. Our school worked together on this project, but I saw a huge difference in the kids in my classroom that were able to associate the story with the physical project. We created a box, decorated it, and once our food was collected, we actually prayed over our food. (I work in a Christian school, where this is accepted).

I really think it is important for kids to see the world as it is, good and bad. It can be presented to them in an age-approrpirate manner, however they can still understand that they have a big influence. (We discuss this in our school through the example of David, who was very small, but had a big heart for Jesus).

My kids also like to collect Toys for Tots, or select angels off trees, and we shop together for children that have very little. While children are generally in their own worlds and egocentric, naturally by nature, they can still understand and comprehend what it means to give to others.

Being thankful comes with much development and growth. I always praise my children, as well as those in my class to let them know when I think they are doing soemthing kind or appreciatitve to others. This helps them learn.

I hope that you are able to share some of these suggestions with your class. Giving to others is so rewarding.