Raising Thankful Children

Happy Post Thanksgiving Day to all!

“Everything is a gift from God,” I used to tell my children. It is important for children to learn this concept as early in life as possible. Our Heavenly Father does not owe us anything. He created us for His purpose, and everything that He gives us in life is a blessing.

I have a family member who has a tendency to give his son whatever he sees or wants. In order to avoid having to listen to his son cry or whine, he gives in to all of his child’s demands, no matter how unreasonable. As an example, the son recently wanted a particular toy that was sold out in stores, and so his father paid an exorbitant price on eBay in order to get it. The father claims that he simply wants to make sure that his son has everything that his own family couldn’t afford when he was a child. However, while I know the father’s family had very little income for toys while he was growing up, I also know that the father was not raised in a home that lacked any major necessities. So did he really experience deprivation as a child? To the contrary, it seems to me that his family’s love for him and God’s love for him was a bountiful blessing that he was given.

Raising thankful children is much easier to do when children understand that they have something important for which to be thankful. Children need to learn that they are not entitled to their belongings but instead are blessed to have them.

Make sure your child learns to:

• Say please and thank you
• Appreciate what they have
• Understand they will not get everything they want in life
• Understand that there are other people who have less than they do
• Give what they have to others
• Not covet what others have

Above all, teach your children not to worship the gifts they receive, but to worship the Giver of all gifts! As James 1:17 states, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

GLMPublishing.net