Winter is just around the corner, and so is that cozy time when the holidays are near. When you make your holiday plans, take the time to think about gratitude and teach children how to authentically appreciate what they have.
Here are three valuable resources to help you:
- 11 Gratitude Prompts. Make these gratitude prompts a part of your bedtime routine or Friday family dinners. Grab your 11 Gratitude Prompts FREEBIE.
- 5 Effective Ways to Teach Your Highly Sensitive Child About Gratitude. Gratitude can be a powerful tool to build resilience and boost self-esteem.
- 9 Fun Gratitude Activities for Kids. You can start implementing this amazing list of activities today.
Let’s dig deeper.
Why is Gratitude Essential for a Highly Sensitive Child?
Gratitude is a learned skill. It’s about choosing to see the bright side instead of focusing on “should be.”
For highly sensitive children who are prone to anxiety and low frustration tolerance, gratitude can be a powerful tool to manage stress.
When children focus on what they are grateful for, it can help them see the good in the world, even when things are tough. This can help reduce their anxiety and make them more resilient.
5 Effective Ways to Teach Your Highly Sensitive Child About Gratitude
1. Encourage small acts of kindness
Teach your child to be grateful to people, not just for things. Saying thanks to someone, talking to a classmate who feels sad, giving grandma a call – these small acts of kindness can make people glow in gratitude.
Here are other examples:
- Praise someone’s artwork, outfit, or kindness toward others
- Help colleagues who are struggling with schoolwork
- Share toys with playmates
- Give someone a gift: buy it or make the gift together
- Say “thank you” and “please.”
2. Highlight your highly sensitive child ‘s strengths
Identify your highly sensitive child’s unique strengths and encourage them to use those strengths to help others. That will make them more generous, connected to those they are helping, and more grateful for their abilities.
For example, sensitive kids have empathy to spare and can be super listeners to their friends and family.
3. Turn complaints into praises
Helping a highly sensitive child reframe complaints into praises involves encouraging them to shift their focus from what’s bothering them to what they appreciate. For instance, if they say, “I hate this noisy place,” you can guide them to say, “I prefer quieter places, but I like that we’re spending time together.” It’s about finding the positive aspects in situations. Use phrases like, “What’s something good about this situation?” or “Can you find one thing you like here?” This practice helps them develop a more positive mindset.
This strategy doesn’t change our initial feelings, so it’s essential that you still validate how your child feels. However, it helps kids see the problem from a different angle. This will help them cope with difficulties in the long run.
4. Help your highly sensitive child find gratitude during difficult times
Instead of denying or ignoring problems, talk about the good and bad parts of life. Here’s a simple exercise: draw peaks and valleys and label them with your children. Explain to your child that life is rarely a perfect straight line. Tell them that it’s better to look at life from the peaks.
Encourage them to make a list of what they do have, even the most minor things, “You may not have friends at school, but it won’t be like that forever. You haven’t made friends at school YET, but you have other friends.”
5. Work through envy
Have you ever noticed your little ones feeling envious of their friends’ new toys, fancy clothes, or exciting adventures? It’s a common feeling among kids, and it can be touch to watch them struggle with it. Here are some effective ways to help your little ones overcome envy and feel more thankful for what they already have:
- Help them understand that everyone is different. Explain that everyone has their unique strengths, talents, and experiences.
- Focus on experiences, not possessions. Instead of focusing on the material things your child may lack, highlight their extraordinary experiences, like spending time with family, enjoying nature, or learning new things.
- Shift their attention to the positive things they have. Try to encourage them to keep a gratitude journal or memory jar or draw pictures of things they’re grateful for.
- Make gratitude a family affair. Share things you’re grateful for around the dinner table, or try the gratitude activities below.
9 Gratitude Activities for Kids
1. Create a gratitude or memory jar
Decorate a jar and cut colorful paper strips. Every evening, ask your child to write or draw something they are grateful for on a strip and put it in the jar. Over time, the jar fills with joyful moments.
It can be anything: strengths that your child is proud of, memories, people in your child’s life that they are thankful for, something beautiful (the sunset, a sunny day), or a mistake they’ve made and the lesson they’ve learned for it.
2. Practice bedtime gratitude with your highly sensitive child
Before bed or at dinner time, take five minutes as a family to share things you are grateful for. For example, ask your child one thing that they liked about their day and that they’re thankful for and one thing that they didn’t. Go around the table, allowing each family member to share their gratitude.
If your child has difficulty seeing the good things that happen to them, play the “Unfortunately, fortunately” game. For example, “Unfortunately, we couldn’t go to the park today because it has been raining. Fortunately, we watched a great movie instead and ate popcorn.”
3. Play a gratitude game with your highly sensitive child
Create a gratitude game using a spinner, dice, or cards. Each space or card could prompt a question or activity related to gratitude, such as “What is one thing you are grateful for about your family?” or “Draw a picture of something you are grateful for.” You can also use the 11 Gratitude Prompts FREEBIE for inspiration.
You can also connect gratitude with empathy and ask questions like:
- “What do you think your dad is thankful for?”
- “What do you think your teacher is thankful for?”
- “What is one thing that the president is thankful for?”
- “What do you think your grandma is thankful for?”
- “What do you think your dog is thankful for?”
4. Keep a gratitude journal
Encourage your child to write down things they are grateful for each day. Creating a homemade gratitude journal is easy – staple a few pages together, decorate the cover and make time each day for journaling. This can look like your kiddo telling you what to write, drawing, or making scribbles.
You can also make a family gratitude journal where each family member writes something they are grateful for.
5. Make a gratitude map with your highly sensitive child
Create a map of places your child is grateful for or likes. The child can mark on the map places where they’ve gone on holiday or towns where their favorite relatives or friends live.
6. Make gratitude bookmarks
Make bookmarks with expressions of gratitude. Cut a piece of cardstock paper into rectangular shapes (2 to 3 inches, no more than 6 inches long) and invite the child to decorate it using markers and crayons. Ask them to draw or write things they are grateful for (you can start the conversation using the 11 Gratitude Prompts FREEBIE). If you’d like to add a ribbon or yarn, use a hole punch to create a hole at the top of each bookmark. Encourage your child to use the bookmarks in their own books or consider gifting them to friends or family.
7. Give compliments and make compliment cards
Children can shift their attention away from negativity and towards more helpful thoughts and feelings by focusing on other people’s positive qualities. This can contribute to a more optimistic and grateful mindset.
Practice gratitude by complimenting family members, classmates, and friends. For example, a simple “You’re an amazing soccer player!” can go a long way. But remember, compliments should be genuine and not forced. Let your child decide when they feel comfortable expressing their appreciation.
Compliment cards are also a great way to show appreciation and strengthen relationships.
8. Create a shout-out bulletin board
A “shout out” bulletin board focuses on positive acts other family members have done. Leave note cards or slips of paper out for everyone in your family to write on. You should give a shout-out when someone is kind, for example, “Ben shared his toys with me today.” You can post these on the bulletin board as a constant reminder of how we show kindness.
Alternatively, you can post the compliment cards on your shout-out bulleting board.
9. Take a Nature Walk
Next time you walk in the park, feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, or admire the sunset, take a moment to think about how amazing our planet is and how grateful we should be for it.
