Raising thankful children is a pretty big deal to a lot of parents. We all want to have children that realize the importance of being grateful for what we have. As parents, we want to know that our children are saying thank you to others, and that they are responding with thankful hearts in various circumstances, no matter the outcome. But if you think about it, thankfulness is really a big concept for a child to grasp. The concept of being thankful is another one of those big words we throw out there as adults, wanting our children to catch on, but not realizing the reality that they may not understand. That’s why we have to teach them.

Concepts that seem so much a part of our every day language can go right over a child’s head. It’s important that in our eagerness for our children to recognize the importance of certain traits, that we bend down and speak to them at their level what this all really means. Maybe in the process we might just learn a thing or two ourselves.

How do we encourage thankful children?

We give them opportunities to say “Thank you!” 

Seems obvious, right? But how often are we doing this? Sometimes we as parents have intentions to do things, but if we don’t make a plan to actually follow through in doing them, they don’t always get done. We have a hundred and one things to do as parents, that’s normal. We don’t need to feel the pressure of one more thing, trust me I know. So what if we were more intentional with the moments we have already been given to teach our children what’s important. Give your child opportunities to say thank you by doing something for them! Give them a glass of water. Help them reach something that’s too high. Do something for your child that helps them understand what it feels like to be thankful.

Tell them “Thank You!” 

After you have given your child the opportunity to be thankful, you be thankful too! Show them what it’s like to be thankful for things around us. Thank them for a simple hug, or for picking up their toys or shoes. Thank them for bringing you something. Raise thankful children by showing thankfulness!

Thank others together. 

Give your child the opportunity to see thankfulness in action. Has someone done something in your life or for your family that has left you feeling grateful? Act on that moment. Use those moments as bridges to build certain qualities in your children that you want them to carry throughout their lives. Stop and thank others together and open their eyes to seeing the opportunities around them to be thankful.

Celebrate what your thankful for with them. 

Maybe your children haven’t been a part of something in particular that caused you to be thankful, but you can share it with them! Sometimes we think it isn’t important to include them on the bigger things, but you never know what can stick for them. We talk often about our blessing of our “blue car.” God placed some specific people in our path to help us get a really good deal when having a second car seemed impossible for our family. God also went above and beyond and gave our oldest son Jase, a blue car, which is what he was praying for from the very beginning. So we celebrate together that God gave us our blue car and that He would bless those who helped us get it. Celebrating is the best part of being thankful.

Look for things to be thankful for, even when it isn’t easy. 

This one is hard for even us as adults, but it might be one of the most important to share with our kids. Sometimes in life it doesn’t feel like we have a lot to be thankful. Maybe we are struggling to pay bills. Maybe another thing has broken down in our home. Maybe life is just wearing on us. It’s in those times where we are having a really hard season that we can forget about thankfulness. Take those moments, take those bad days, and remind your children what we can be thankful for in the midst of sad days or hard seasons.

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When you put big words into action, it makes it real for your children. Taking a word like thankfulness and breaking it down to real life, every day moments enables your child to truly feel what it’s like to be thankful. So how can you look for ways this week to include thankfulness in your every day conversation?