12 Days of Christmas Parenting - Growing Gratitude

Growing Gratitude in Your Teens at Christmas
Not too long ago, we celebrated Thanksgiving. This is the time when many parents work vigorously to get their kids to "count their blessings" when really, they're consumed with food, cousins and video games. So how do we cultivate generosity at Christmas time?

It would be easy to become very cliché and even cheesy at this point, to merely talk about what we're thankful for and promise to be more grateful. I think the best way to generate gratitude is to go without something. We never appreciate something fully until we don't have it.

Try this.

Sit down with your kids and talk over the idea of gratitude. Together, choose a day that week where every member in the family goes without any drinks. None. No soft drinks, lemonade or water. (I know that sounds extreme, but I just did this not too long ago as a dad.) No doubt, everyone will be thirsty by the end of the day... if not before.

Plan a little gathering before bedtime and talk over how each of you felt. Discuss when it was toughest for you during the day to not sneak to the refrigerator and grab a Gatorade. Then, visit the website for Charity Water. (www.charitywater.org) They are a non-profit organization that provides water to communities around the world that don't have clean drinking water. Forget Coke or Dr. Pepper—many don't even have water! Do you realize that almost a billion people on the planet don't have access to clean drinking water? Unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation causes 80% of all diseases and kills more people than all forms of violence, including war.

Now, decide what your family can do to help those who have no clean drinking water to get some. You will notice on the website that $20 provides clean water for one person, for twenty years. Talk about what each family member can do to chip in and help.

Then, talk about the little things in our life that we take for granted every day—like water—and choose one action each of you will take to express your gratitude for that gift from God.

"In everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." (I Thessalonians 5:18)

Blog by: Tim Elmore