{An Attitude Of Gratitude}

A few years back I was the craft coordinator for our local MOPS {Mothers Of Preschoolers} group.  At that time, it was November and we were looking for a craft that was family oriented.  We decided on a gratitude journal.  A simple one that could be used year after year. A fun way to keep the holiday focused on what was important, what we were thankful for.  It was made with a composition book, covered in Kraft paper. You know, kind of how we used to cover textbooks with a brown paper bag back in the day ;).  We added tabs for our family's because my husband likes to keep track of recipes and such.  Here's a link to my old blog to see how we made ours.

This brings me to this year.  A few weeks back our pastor spoke on gratitude.  He mentioned how with all the social media, it's easy for our eyes and hearts to become focused on what we DON'T have.  We're in constant comparison with our friends, neighbor's even people we've never met. We tend to forget that the friend who's posting about their lavish lifestyle, their trips to Hawaii or their perfect marriage is probably only posting just that, what makes their lifestyle look lavish.  Hardly do we post the bad stuff, the fight we had with our husband or the failed attempt at disciplining our children.  With that comes what our pastor called the "comparison trap."

I believe that our focus should be on what we've been given.  With each day, we're blessed to start fresh.  In homeschooling my children, I've become so thankful for those new beginnings and fresh starts.  There are days that end in tears and frustration, especially with my daughter.  There are days as a mother that end in frustration too.  I had one of those today-the baby's teething and he screamed all day.  I could do nothing to help him.  The only comfort he found was in my wearing him and keeping him very close.  I had to set the to-do list aside and honor that request.

With all that we do as parents and trying to take the time to recognize our blessings got me thinking about our children and how they view thankfulness. In their lives, what is it that they are thankful for.  I think it's so simple to just write our children off and not discuss thankfulness with them.  I didn't want to do that.  I wanted my children to learn to take a few minutes everyday and pay attention to the blessings they've been given.  I don't want them growing up in this world in a constant state of "the gimmies."  I want them to look at the house they have, be it small, and still stay I am SO thankful for the roof over my head, that I have a warm bed to sleep in and a dolly to snuggle.  So...with that I set out to start a gratitude project with them. I made a few printables, made copies of them at Kinko's, laminated the cover and had it coil bound.  If you're interested in making a gratitude journal for your children, here's a link to the printables for you to download.

{Kicked off our gratitude project with one of my favorite books "I'm Thankful Each Day" by P.K. Hallinan & turkey handprints, of course.}

 Here's a peek at how I put ours together.  I printed the sheets back to back and alternated one drawing sheet to one writing sheet.  This works well for my son who is in kindergarten.  It gives him the chance to draw independently what he is thankful for and to practice his writing as well.  I have my children filling these in before their school day starts.  And we plan on writing in them daily for the remainder of the school year.  So far, we have "I'm thankful for God, Jesus and the Bible" and "Raccoons."  Given that my children enjoy this project, I'm hoping to continue it.  How fun will it be to look back years from now to see what they were thankful for. 

{ IG video}