Teach Your Kids to Be Grateful

My mom sent me this on an email this morning, I thought it was good so I shared it with my third and fourth graders, and I thought I would share it on my blog for all you moms who read my blog! It came from Ann Voskamps blog. (A Holy Experience) She wrote 1000 Gifts. 3 Reasons Why to Teach Kids to Be Grateful The research can only support Scriptural Truth: 1. Better Attitudes: Children who practice grateful thinking have more positive attitudes toward school and their families (Froh, Sefick, Emmons, 2008). 2. Better Grades: Gratitude in children: 6-7th graders who kept a gratitude journal for only three weeks, had an increased grade point average over the course of a year. 3. Better Caring: Children who kept gratitude journals were more sensitive to situations where they themselves can be helpful, altruistic, generous, compassionate, and were less destructive and displayed less negative social behaviors… And if We Don’t Practice Gratitude? On the other hand, research shows that youth who are ungrateful are “less satisfied with their lives and are more apt to be aggressive and engage in risk-taking behaviors, such as early or frequent promiscuous activities, substance use, poor eating habits, physical inactivity, and poor academic performance.” Why does gratitude do all of this — how can it, really? Because we were made to live in gratitude to God, giving glory to God. All research from: Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier