November 20, 2005

• Teaching Children to be Thankful

  My grandchildren and I have been adding ‘leaves’ to our THANKFUL TREE this week. I drew a large tree trunk out of a construction paper poster and taped it to the pantry door. Each day the grandchildren have drawn a picture on their ‘leaf’ and told Grammy what they are thankful for. I write down what they say on the leaf along with their name and the year. We then glue these leaves to our tree.

  
  

  Thankfulness is not a natural response. We are sinful, selfish humans that need to be reminded often through Scripture to give thanks. So, do our children and grandchildren.
  
  There are so many ways to encourage a thankful spirit in our children. We must first live it out in front of them. If their parents and grandparents are unthankful for all the Lord has done for them and given them then you can’t expect a child to rise above that attitude.

  
  

  Children need to be taught that everything they own has been given to them by God. My grandchildren are memorizing short doctrine questions and answers that teach these truths. So, when asked the question each day before we make our ‘leaves’ for our THANKFUL TREE, ” What did God make?” The children respond, GOD MADE ALL THINGS. Gen. 1:1. So, who are we thankful to for everything… GOD!

  
  

  Other ways of teaching thankfulness is by teaching children to say ‘thanks’ at the dinner table. We are blessed with so much food in America. Our children have no idea how blessed they are to have 3 full meals a day along with snacks. I was watching a documentary this week where people in India were so close to starvation. We have more than we need and thanks should be given to God for His blessings. There are prayer ‘poems’ that young children can memorize along with just sharing their thoughts in prayer. Godly habits that are established when a child is young will remain with them even when they become older and leave home. My Mom taught my Sister and I to say our evening prayers each night before we went to bed. This habit has stayed with me my entire life.

  
  

  Another idea is to have a THANKFUL JAR. You can do this one of two ways. You can place pieces of paper at each dinner plate and have everyone write something they are thankful for and then place it in the jar. Or you can fill a jar with small pieces of paper and have your family fill it with thankful notes throughout the year of ways the Lord has blessed them then share it on Thanksgiving.

  
  

  We won’t be having Thanksgiving at our home this year but here is something we try to do when we do celebrate  at home. Some years I put 5 candy corns  next to our plates. We then share the story of the Pilgrim’s first winter in the New World. Governor John Carver gave each person 5 kernels of Indian corn once a day.  When spring came, the Pilgrim’s planted some of this corn. The Pilgrim’s knew they would never face starvation again. From then on they placed 5 kernels of corn next to each person’s plate when there was a time of thanksgiving. What a contrast when we look at the 5 kernels of corn and then all the food piled on our table. It’s a time to be thankful!. 

  
  

   

  
  

   

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