Let’s be frank. We live in an entitled world, and as a mom, that can be tough. Listening to your kids tell you the latest and greatest tech out there that *all* of their friends recently acquired, knowing full well your child will never get it because there’s no way you can afford it. It’s mentally straining.
One of the biggest and most important traits that my husband and I both agreed we needed to put at the forefront of parenting is gratitude. Our kids don’t get $1,000 worth of Christmas presents every year, they don’t have the newest toys, and they are taught to be grateful for the things that they do have.
I’m having conversations with my kids about being lucky that we have a home, we have the luxury of having snacks and meals, we have tons of toys to play with, and get time to visit family and friends for playdates.
With the school year starting up again, another reason to practice gratitude with the family is for the sake of your sanity. I am the first to admit that the beginning of the school year is the toughest for me mentally. This year I am vowing to be a model for my own kids and start practicing gratitude-Enter conversation starters.
When the school year officially begins, we are practicing gratitude conversation starters as a family. I have compiled a list of questions that seem so simple, but will force us to be grateful in our answers and change our way of thinking. This is how it works: At the dinner table every evening, we rotate selecting a question from the “Gratitude Jar” and we each have to answer the same question. For instance, one night my son will get to randomly draw the question, we will all discuss our own personal answers. Then the next night another child will get a chance to draw a question, etc.
I am hopeful that having these nightly conversations will force all of us to take a minute and change the course of our thinking. Negative thoughts to positive ones. This is going to be just as beneficial for me as it will be for my kids, and probably much for difficult for me, too. I tend to harp on the difficulties of my back-to-school struggles, and I do not want to start the year bringing that stress home to my family. Life is too short, right? We need to be thankful for the life we have, and most importantly, the family we have to come home to.
Scroll to the bottom to see the questions I have created. Some of them are specific to our family but can easily be tweaked to accommodate your family. I’ll post an update once we get up and running, but I am excited to see the outcome of our nightly conversations.
Gratitude Conversation Starters:
- Who did something nice for you today? What was it?
- What is your favorite part about your home? Why?
- What abilities do you have that you are grateful for?
- What is something about your teacher that you are grateful for?
- What is something you love doing with your parents?
- How did you help someone today?
- What are two things you are grateful for today?
- What is something you love about each of your siblings?
- How did you help your siblings today?
- What did you learn about yourself today?
- What is one of your favorite ways to help somebody?
- What was your favorite part about today?
- What is one way you can include someone who feels left out?
- What food tastes the best in the whole world?
- What is the most beautiful thing you saw today?
- What was something new you tried today?
- What is one way you can make somebody’s day better tomorrow?
- What did you do today that was kind?
- What was the nicest thing someone did for you?
- What was the nicest thing someone said to you?
- What is your favorite memory with Mimi and PoPPop?
- What is your favorite memory with Mitmee and Opop?
- What is your favorite part of your school day?
- What is your favorite family tradition?
- What book are you most thankful for?
- How does it make you feel when someone is kind to you?
- What is one thing you appreciate about Daddy?
- What is one thing you appreciate about Mommy?
- What is one reason you are thankful for your pets?
- What is one thing money can’t buy?
- Tell the person to your right one thing you are grateful for about them.
- What is something wonderful that happened to you today?
- What is your favorite place on earth?
- Name something that begins with the first letter of your name that you are grateful for.
- Three things I am thankful for today are…
- What is your favorite thing to do as a family?
- What is something that comforts you on a bad day?
- What challenge have you had that you are thankful for?
- What is one of your strengths?
- What is something that makes you feel happy?
- What brought a smile to your face today?
- What is your favorite sound in the whole world?
- Which friend are you most grateful for?
- What is your favorite holiday and why?
