One of the things that I am constantly trying to teach our children is to be grateful. Thankfulness and positivity has become an important message in our house.
What I do not want is…
For our children to be influenced by people who look at things in a negative light.
For our children to feel entitled or superior.
For our children to focus on the things that do not really matter in life.
What I do want is…
For our children to focus on the good, even when their circumstances seem tough.
For our children to feel fortunate to have all that they do and to realize that they have everything that they need.
For our children to focus on loving God, loving themselves and loving others.
We all get bummed out or frustrated about things, but we have the choice to let things go and focus on the positive. It is easy to get down about things. I know I have been there, but I try hard to keep the negative thoughts away. I want our children to be aware and fight the negativity as well.
Negativity can affect our physical and mental health. When we feel sorry for ourselves, we get depressed easily. When we think the world owes us something, we are often unhappy with the outcome.
I have been pushing the happy thoughts on my children more then ever these past few weeks. I am making an effort to remember to use every opportunity available as a teaching moment to find a positive for them to focus on.
Last week, the girls and I started positive talk again. When I pick them up from school, they have to tell me one positive thing from their day. It has been nice, because I already see and feel a difference in our drive home.
Before when they would get in the car and talk about their day, there were many times when they would focus on things like arguments with friends, a headache they had, how hard math was or when a friend did not play with them at recess. The nurturing side of me always coddled them and tried to solve the problems with them, but I have noticed that it only leads them to continue to come home with new problems and feel sorry for themselves about things.
I want them to have enough faith & strength to deal with the challenges of the day, but at the end of the day feel grateful for what is good. Now that we have been talking about the positive things, I think it is really making them look for the good. Some days they even name more than one positive thing, which is just fabulous!
Here is the most recent prayer that I posted on our fridge for them to read aloud at mealtime:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for a wonderful day full of blessings. The bible says: Give thanks in all circumstances. That means you want us to be happy and thankful even when things do not always go as planned.
Even when my day is not perfect, I know that you have blessed me.
A grateful heart is so important. When I hear others complaining or feeling bad about things, please help me to focus on the positive.
Amen.
When I look at this picture of our daughters and nieces my heart is flooded with gratitude...
