When my kids were young (my youngest just left for college), we used to practice gratitude as a family. It started by chance! We would always ask my son what he did each day. He wouldn’t have a lot to say. So one day we got the idea of asking him what was his favorite thing that happened that day.
To encourage the conversation, my husband or I would say something positive that happened in our day. It quickly became a habit of us going around the table with each of us, including my daughter who was little at the time, saying our favorite thing that happened that day. Sometimes we would also say our least favorite thing, so people could express what happened whether it was a good day or not. But we usually tried to end it on a positive note.
Over time, our kids’ friends would join in since they often ate over.
Looking back, it was a great way to appreciate the good in life while spending time with family and friends.
Try it out at your next meal. It really does make life better!
-Mama Lisa
This article was posted on Sunday, September 1st, 2019 at 5:34 pm and is filed under Family Activities, Leading a Good Life, Mama Lisa, Parenting, The Family Dinner. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
One Response to “A Fun Way to Practice Gratitude as a Family”
Leave a Reply
October 17th, 2019 at 6:54 pm
Another aspect of the practice of expressing gratitude in a group is for the loners of this world. In my 80th year, and having been prone to bouts of depression since teens, I was inspired on New Year’s Day to purchase an extra diary. Each evening I wrote one thing which had been special that day, starting with discovering a single shy white hellebore in the small garden of my rented apartment. That year was the first one I kept my New Year’s resolution. I did suffer some ‘lows’ and recorded those too.