Gratitude Parenting Can Help Children Develop Life-Changing Habits

It is widely accepted that grateful people are happier and more resilient. However, what is less talked about is how gratitude can also be cultivated in children through what is known as "gratitude parenting."

There are many different types of parenting styles. Some are more traditional, such as authoritarian, authoritative, or permissive, while others are more recent, such as neglectful, overprotective, indulgent, conditional.

Permissive parenting does not set limits on a child's behavior, often trusting that the child will do the right thing. While this may have produced well-behaved children in the past, in the 21st century permissiveness often produces children who are undisciplined and overly entitled.

Gratitude parenting involves teaching children to be aware of and thankful for the good things in their lives. This type of parenting has been shown to have numerous benefits for children, including improved mental well-being, increased resilience, and better academic performance.

Gratitude is one of the top three strengths according to the psychologists Martin Seligman, Christopher Peterson and the late Martin E.P. Seligman .  According to a study by the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity".

Gratitude focused parenting, in some specific ways, can help you incorporate gratitude into your parenting style, to eventually rear more grateful children. Gratitude is defined as being thankful for and acknowledging the good things in your life. Through this lens, gratitude is not a feeling but rather a perspective on life. Gratitude helps you to see the good instead of only the bad, and this can have an incredibly positive influence upon both your life and the lives of your children.

How to Apply the Gratitude Mindset in Parenting.

The first step to develop gratitude in parenting is to become aware of what you have to be grateful for. This seems like an obvious step, but you may be surprised to find yourself struggling with this. Often, we become so focused on what is wrong in our lives that we forget to acknowledge and appreciate the good things.

It is widely accepted that grateful people are happier and more resilient.

It is widely accepted that grateful people are happier and more resilient. And what parent wouldn't want their young child to be happy and resilient? Gratitude parenting is one way to cultivate these life-transforming habits in children. By teaching children to focus on what they are thankful for, gratitude parenting can help them develop into grateful kids who are better able to weather life's ups and downs.

How to Start a Gratitude Journal with Kids.

One of the best ways to do gratitude journaling with your child is to do it together. You can start by picking up a Gratitude Journal for Children, which makes writing down gratitude fun, and allows you and your child to share your feelings and experiences with each other.

Another great way at practicing gratitude is to do a gratitude adventure together.

Why should we teach gratitude to our children?

As positive parenting solutions go, practicing gratitude is not bad, as being appreciative and grateful makes us feel good as well as the kids.

When another family member is willing to go out of their way to do something nice for us, it makes us feel a combination of happiness, surprise, and gratitude. And when we feel it in our hearts, it's also in our faces. Happy faces are great for dinner time table talk.

It is important to acknowledge that gratitude is not the cure for all issues and mental health problems that may occur during the teenage years. But as we have seen, being grateful is a powerful positive emotion and is a good first step in finding solutions to life's issues. Gratitude also helps keep parents sane during their teens' often exasperating years.

"Gratitude is a virtue," Sosa says. "We're helping children to develop positive character traits that will serve them throughout their lives." "We can't change what happens to us, but we can always choose how we feel about it and how we respond.

The more you practise thankfulness with your childrenthe more of a good thing it becomes and the more likely they will show appreciation for the good things in their daily life.

And we know that gratitude has many positive effects. For instance, it can boost your levels of happiness and decrease your negative moods.

It can lower stress and bolster resilience. "Gratitude is a beautiful and wonderful way to live,".

What is less talked about, however, is how gratitude can also be cultivated in children through "gratitude parenting."

Gratitude parenting is all about training your children to have an attitude of gratefulness. This doesn't mean you have to go out of your way to do things for them or give them everything they want. Instead, it's more about setting the tone and attitude in your home that encourages grateful living. When you live with a sense of true gratitude yourself, your children will quickly learn what it means and how they can cultivate it in their own lives.

Simply be aware of what is going on around you and be grateful for it. It could be as simple as a little thing like, "I'm grateful I have a roof over my head and I have food to eat today!"

Gratitude exercises:

1. Start the morning by spending a few minutes writing down the things you're grateful for in your life.

 2. Talk to your children about what they're grateful for.

As parents we have to look at different ways how to help our children develop a spirit of gratitude in their lives.

If you want your children to develop a sense of appreciation and good manners, you have to set the example. When you have a positive attitude and are grateful for life, your children will follow your example. They will see that it is possible to be grateful for what you have and still want to be better, smarter, and more successful.

The respect of your child is one of the most important gifts you can give. Children who feel respected and valued are more likely to grow into healthy adults with emotions that are balanced. When you show the utmost respect for your children, you are teaching them to do the same for themselves and for others. Respect and kindness for others is one of the most important life skills a person can learn.

Gratitude parenting involves teaching children to be aware of and thankful for the goodness in their lives.

Parents have a lot to be grateful for and do not need parenting courses to make them realise they are raising the next generation and have the opportunity to instill values that will last a lifetime. One of the best things parents can do is teach their young kids how to be grateful for what they have. A little gratitude practice goes a long way and can transform children's lives by making them happier, more resilient, and more successful in everything they do. There are many ways to cultivate gratitude in children. One is to model it yourself as a parent.

"This type of parenting has been shown to have numerous benefits for children, including improved mental well-being, increased resilience, and better academic performance."

We now get the sense that gratitude is a powerful word and can affect child development in such a profound manner. It is widely accepted that children who are grateful tend to have a number of benefits in their lives. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that parents would want to cultivate a positive feeling in their children from a young age.

Dr. Laura Markham, author of Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How to Stop Yelling and Start Connecting is an expert in the area of parenting and family issues. She believes that teaching gratitude to your children is not only important, but also extremely easy to do. In fact, Markham says that the best way to instill gratitude in your children is to intentionally and repeatedly express gratitude yourself.

The results of a recent study of more than three thousand American adults found that people with a higher level of genuine gratitude were more likely to be happy and to feel connected with others. Nowhere in the study did it show that gratitude actually leads to higher income; however, there was a relationship between higher income and higher levels of gratitude. (Interestingly, gratitude was unrelated to marital status.) Therefore, teaching your children gratitude is one more way to encourage happiness and connection.

A recent study by the Greater Good Science Centre, an affiliate of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center, noted that there is evidence that gratitude can serve as a buffer against toxic stress. "Research suggests that gratitude enables people to feel that they're making progress in their lives," they write.

How can these parents do so? There are many ways to foster gratitude in children. I have highlighted below a common theme from a collections of responses from various parents, from across the internet.

•  Give your child a "gratitude letter."

On the last day of kindergarten, many parents give their child a "gratitude letter" to reflect on his or her year. Telling your child how much you appreciate him or her will create a habit of gratitude.

While we can't control everything that happens to us, we can control how we respond to what happens when we go about our day with a grateful heart - we set ourselves up for success. It is simple positive psychology. When we go about our day with a grievance-filled, angry heart, we set ourselves up for failure. For any parent, a great sense of joy is seeing their happy kids develop into the kind and giving adults we know they can be.

I hope after getting to the end of this article, you too now have a nice warm feeling inside but if you do not fancy a gratitude journal or letter there is always our lovely  gratitude necklaces accompanied by a heartfelt sentiment of gratitude already done for you. Until next time enjoy,