Unlock the Power of Gratitude!

There’s an antidote to help you and your children boost emotional and mental well-being. It’s called GRATITUDE. Research has shown that practicing gratitude can reduce stress, enhance relationships and contribute to overall well-being and emotional development.

Here are 3 activities that are a fun way to practice and express gratitude. 

1.VISUAL DISPLAY 

To help your child develop a positive and appreciative outlook, have them create a banner, a board or a collage. Each day, encourage them to write one aspect of their life that they are grateful for, and the reason for being grateful, then have them place it on their display. It could be an experience, a person, an object or even a feeling. If they are struggling to think of something, prompt them by having them say out loud, ‘I am grateful for___.” This will trigger their brain to think of an answer. 

2. JOURNALING

Journaling creates a practice of connecting to gratitude and helps with their writing skills. Daily entries in their own private journal about the people, events and things for which they are grateful help them with emotional resilience and self-esteem. For those who may say, like my son, ‘I can’t think of anything’, here are some helpful hints: 

• What did you do today that was fun?
• What makes you happy?
• What do you look forward to when you wake up?
• What’s something you learned today?
• Who or what makes you smile?
• Who was kind to you today?

 

3. CREATE A JAR OF JOY

Begin by providing a jar large enough to hold daily gratitude notes. Then personalize the jar with decorations using ribbons, stickers, pompoms, sparkles and markers.

After decorating the jar, it’s time to add the notes they have written about people, places or things. They can also add photos or cut out images from magazines that depict their gratefulness. Whenever they are having a challenging moment where they need a joyful lift, encourage them to take a gratitude note from their jar and have a brief discussion about it. Remind them that even on challenging days, there’s always something to be grateful for.

Modelling to your child(ren) what gratitude looks like, by mentioning what you are grateful for during your day, shows them that this practice is valuable for all ages. 

Until next time…

 

Sara Westbrook is a professional speaker and creator of UPower Inc, offering keynotes, presentations and workshops on ‘Emotions Change Choices’ to audiences ages 4 -100. She can be found at sarawestbrook.com or on Instagram @iamsarawestbrook.