Train up a child…

Fostering an Attitude of Gratitude

It is not easy to get children to experience a genuine attitude of gratitude. Many children do not know what it means to do without things they need or want. Even though some children in poverty do not have as much as others, they often pick up an attitude of entitlement from parents or others. Unfortunately, that attitude of entitlement seems to permeate our current society. Rather than be thankful for what they have, people often become angry that someone else doesn’t see to it that they have more.

We need to start with children to help them be truly thankful for what they have. Will telling them to be thankful cause them to be thankful? Probably not. As with most of the things we teach children, experience is the best teacher. I can still hear my mom saying, “We never miss the water ‘til the well runs dry.” How true! In light of this truth, we may need to institute what may seem to be some drastic measures to help children appreciate what they have. However, these activities can be games that the family plays and be fun experiences that will be remembered for years. Here are some suggestions for one or more activities as needed:

• Choose a day when there are no important trips that have to be made. Pretend that the family vehicles will not start, so that there is no way to travel by automobile. Everyone must either stay home or walk. No one is allowed to car pool.
• It will not hurt the family to go a day without food unless there are

medical situations requiring they not do so. Some families have

been known to schedule a day of fasting each week and give the

money that would have been spent on food to charity.

• Take away all means of communication with the outside. No cell phones may be used and other phones can be hidden.
• Turn off the electricity for a day or so. (Some have already experienced this during ice storms.)
• If you have a fireplace, on a cold day turn off the furnace. Use only the fireplace for heat.
• Make arrangements for teens to go on mission trips to a foreign country with a church group. Teens who do this are never the same again.

None of these activities will really hurt the children and will help them to truly appreciate the things they had to do without. Of course, health situations may prevent the use of some of the ideas, but perhaps others can be substituted. Perhaps none of them or just one of them is needed to help children learn to appreciate. Parents can be very creative in getting the point across that we need to be thankful for what we have.