A couple months ago, when the kids were complaining about some trivial things, my husband, Mike got out a huge piece of paper and announced we were going to make a gratitude list. We sat around as a family and thought of over a hundred things for which we are grateful. Then we posted it on the wall for awhile.
We’ve found that we need to remind our children often of all we have, especially when they start using a more demanding tone and expecting to get things they want without working for them. We adults can fall into this trap as well, so it’s good for us all to remind each other that we have so many blessings.
One of the best ways to do this is through service. We’ve taken our kids to South America to help them understand what they have and the value of serving those less fortunate. But you don’t have to go to a third world country to accomplish this. Experience in service can be just as powerful when it’s close to home. I try to keep my eyes open for opportunities to help people and involve my children.
Here’s a video of my boys singing a beautiful song about sharing, that almost made me cry when I heard them sing it at their school. And below you can see the items we put on our list of 100 blessings.
