Growing at Home - Gratitude
While you're settling in to a new and unexpected routine, we know that this comes with daily challenges and exhaustion. We'd like to share some ideas with you to keep your family inspired by positivity. Gratitude goes a long way in promoting healthy attitudes in our families. When we seek the positive, we are less anxious and stressed, and more focused and kind.
Below are some practices you can use to incorporate gratitude into your daily life. These are adapted from Audrey Monke's Sunshine Parenting.
Daily family sharing: Make a habit of reflecting on what we're grateful for as a family. You could schedule this to be talked about during a meal or at bedtime, whatever makes most sense for your family. Also talk about things that someone did for you or what you're grateful for about another person.
A gratitude board: Put up a bulletin board where everyone can tack on things they are thankful for. A board is fun because it's visual and can be easily updated. If you don't have a bulletin board available, get creative with your own poster board and art supplies.
A gratitude journal: Use an old or cheap journal or notebook. Your kids can decorate them to make them special and individualized. If you don't think your family members can keep up with their own journals, just do one together as a family.
Give to others: Several studies have proven that giving to others makes you happy and is good for your health. While our social connection is limited, it's more important than ever to find ways to give. Your kids could write letters or postcards to people they care about or for staff at hospitals. You could send out text messages to your friends and family members about qualities you appreciate about them, have fun with it :)
Be in the moment: Mindfulness will also help to decrease anxiety and promote positivity and kindness. KiwiCo will walk you through some easy breathing exercises and mindfulness activities that you can do with your kids.
This is a good time to pull out the old family albums and reminisce, tell your kids about your childhood, and show them funny, young pictures of all of you. Everyday is a new day for new opportunities. If you miss a day of trying to do any of these positivity activities, don't worry, just start again the next day.
We love you and are rooting for you! Have a great week and stay healthy.