I am excited to partner with Oak Meadow today to bring you this series on emotional health. This is part three of three and is all about gratitude.
Okay my sweet friends, today I am going to share with you something that I know you have heard about before. But I really, really want to encourage you to read this post because it is a game changer. Especially right now.
Over the last few days I have been sharing with you different ways to nurture the emotional health of our children. I have shared with you the importance of a strong rhythm, ways we can ensure our children still feel like free souls, and today I am going to share with you how gratitude can change everything.
It was about a year ago when I started my first gratitude journal. The use of the word journal is a bit misleading, as I truly only wrote one page. A single gratitude page – and it changed everything.
I had heard all about the idea of expressing gratitude and writing it down and how that simple act will completely transform things for you. I had heard it a lot – enough times that I finally thought I would give it a try.
I got a lovely journal (because, you know, if I was going to do it, I might as well do it right!) and wrote down the names of my children and my husband. I then went through each name and wrote three things I was grateful for about each person.
Game changer!
I was almost in tears by the end of that page! I was surrounded by such amazing people. I get to spend my days surrounded by these wonderful human beings. I am truly blessed – and as I saw it written out on paper before me, there was absolutely no denying it.
It put me in such a pleasant mood and state of mind that I only used my gratitude ‘journal’ that one time. Until recently …
I decided I would pick back up the practice (practice – as if I am an expert having done it once) last month. I decided I would write in my journal each night before going to bed. It was lovely. I would simply journal things that I was grateful for that happened that day.
I then thought since this was helping me so much, it would be lovely for my children to try it as well. Instead of me suggesting they start, I thought I would try a round about way of getting them interested. I moved my journal writing to breakfast time. I started to journal at the breakfast table, answering questions about what I was doing and sharing my gratitude with my children. I also shared with them some of the many reasons I am grateful for each of them.
It wasn’t long before paper and pens were joining us at breakfast and little gratitude lists and pictures were being made. Voila!
I decided to get some lovely gratitude journals for my children – no strings attached, no need to write if they did not want to, just a safe place to journal their grateful little hearts out should they want to. I know first hand that sometimes one gratitude list is all you need.
I have seen a few other lovely ideas for ways families can share gratitude together:
- Have a family chalkboard full of gratitude
- Write thankful notes on pieces of paper and pop them in a jar, when the jar is full read them all
- Pop little hearts on each others bedroom doors sharing things loved about each other
- Write notes of gratitude on a pumpkin for fall!
- Tie in nature and try out these gratitude cards:
There are truly so many ways to share gratitude as a family. And it truly makes such a huge difference. When we are constantly confronted with all of the beauty and good in our lives, we simply feel happier.
Helping our little ones learn to express gratitude is a wonderful, life-long way to nurture their emotional health.
I hope that you have found these 3 suggestions helpful! Thank you so much for reading along. And please do check out my sponsor, Oak Meadow.
I would love to thank Oak Meadow for sponsoring this series. Oak Meadow has loads of options for journals and all of the resources you will need for your homeschool adventure.
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