Growing Gratitude: A Fillable Journal to Inspire a Gratitude Practice for Children
Gratitude.
Only in my adult life did I actually realize that gratitude was more than something you say. Talk about. I now know that it is more than just something you can ‘show’ as well. Yes, it is saying it, thinking it, showing it but also…it is feeling it. The feeling of gratitude is something that I truly believe can change everything in less than a moment.
Not just for us but for the little ones in our lives. Instead of just saying to my kids ‘BE GRATEFUL FOR THAT’ – I decided to consciously teach my children how to find gratitude in their own bodies, minds, and hearts. To do that I did two things.
- Created my own practice of Gratitude
- When no one was looking. No one was awake. I spent moments of my life feeling grateful. Using a framework from Mind Valley’s Vishen Lakhiani Gratitude exercise – I found things to be grateful for in my personal life, my career and about (gulp), myself. Of course, I resisted finding something to be grateful about myself because well…I am human. And it’s way easier to find things to be grateful for about other people. But when I thought about how amazing it would be to have children to didn’t spend time judging themselves and wishing to change it – I knew I had to do it. So I did.
- Then…I let them see it. Besides privately feeling it for my own self, throughout the day I let them catch me closing my eyes, breathing, and smiling. Or having me watch them without them knowing, then when they say something like ‘Why are you watching me???’. I tell them. I am just so grateful. Yes, sometimes they get annoyed with me. Sometimes I’m not grateful and they catch me doing that too. But I am certainly trying.
- Give them Tools
- Namely…a gratitude journal. I didn’t want my kids to be intimidated by a big book of blank pages (Like sometimes even I can be…). I created a children’s gratitude journal that divided subjects into 3 categories; person, place and thing. Then all they need to do is choose one and begin to think about something in that category. Once an idea is chosen, just below it lies a small empty rectangle for them to draw, write or have me write about what they feeeeeeeel grateful for. Easy peasy.
- Then – without judgment or criticism (even if you think it is silly to be grateful for a popsicle for 10 days in a row), hand to heart, take a breath with them and be there while they are feeling the feeling.
That’s it.
I can give lots more data (which I probably will soon) about the actual legitimate power of feeling gratitude but for now, I encourage you to just try it and see what happens.
Ps. Within the journal I added more tips and instructions about how to implement this practice.
Features of this Journal:
- Softcover
- 8.5 ” x 8.5 “
- 29 page count
- Black & White interior
- 44 spaces to document gratitude
- Tips on how to practice gratitude
- Guidance on how to interact with children
Please also note – this journal can be used with children from the ages of 3 and up. Young children will obviously not be able to write themselves but they can draw or express things verbally to the adult in their life who can document it for them. I first started this process with my daughter when she was 3 and I am so glad I did.
This book is available in softcover only on Amazon in most countries. Please visit Amazon and search ‘Tamara Hackett’ to purchase or click the links below to purchase from specific regions.
