Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name,make known his deeds among the people. – I Chronicles 16:8
How can we get kids to appreciate their blessings? Can we just tell them they should be thankful and expect their attitudes to change?
In today’s culture of materialism, it is not surprising that children often do not feel thankful for what they have. Things come easily. In many middle-class homes, one can go into the room of a child and see hundreds of dollars worth of toys or other things that titillate a child’s fancy. Even in low-income homes, many times broken toys are strewn in the yard and money is spent on those “fun things” whether there is money for rent or heat.
The old saying, “We never miss the water until the well runs dry,” is true. Often, it is only when we have to do without that we come to appreciate what we have. We can help children experience doing without in a limited way by playing games with children. A family can decide to do without a named thing for a day. An example might be that everyone put up their cell phones for a day. By the next day, there will be a greater appreciation of them. The refrigerator might be off-limits for a day. (Most of us can benefit from a day’s fast!) Doing without is the very best way to develop appreciation.
When children earn their belongings, they tend to appreciate and care for them. Using earned money to purchase items is a beneficial experience that many children have never had. Along the same line, if they can participate in the work of parents, they gain understanding of what it takes to earn the money parents spend on them. Going to work with dad or mom is a good thing. Raking the leaves in a neighbor’s yard or picking up black walnuts are two things that most children can do to experience earning money.
Field trips to places where people are less fortunate give a visual aid to show children what it is like to do without. Participating in projects such as feeding the homeless, gathering toys for others, or giving gifts to others are activities that will let a child see others that have less. Seeing is not quite as effective as experiencing, but it certainly helps. A field trip to a children’s ward in a hospital certainly evokes thoughts of what it would be like to be without good health.
It is not realistic to expect children to automatically be thankful for what they have. If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we, as adults, are not always as thankful as we should be. We need to set an example by our words and deeds for children to follow.
Telling is not teaching. We cannot simply tell a child to be thankful and expect a positive response. Yes, we can and should require children to say, “thank you.” Saying “thank you,” however, does not always mean that a child is feeling thankfulness.