We blinked and it’s November! When it comes to Thanksgiving it’s so easy to get swept up in the promise of crisp weather and a food coma that we often miss out on the opportunity to focus on the purpose of this holiday. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been loving the cooler weather and am already planning which maternity pants to wear at Thanksgiving for maximum comfort. But if we are not also making it a priority to show and talk about thankfulness how can we expect our children to do so? This is a prime time to prepare your children’s hearts, not only for Thanksgiving, but for Christmas too. One of my favorite lines from a song is this: “Open my heart, Lord. Help me to love like you.” Thanksgiving is such an easy time to teach your children to love like Jesus loves and give like Jesus gives.
Wait, giving? I thought this month was for thanking!
The way I look at it, you simply cannot fully show gratitude without giving back. The times where I have closed my eyes and been so moved by the abundance in my life, my first thought is, “what can I do to give back? God has found me worthy of these beautiful things in my life; I just can’t sit here!”
To easily teach thankfulness to children young and old I have come up with a twist on the Thankful Jar, incorporating 5 categories of things to be thankful for. Each day you will focus on one category and each person in your family will add one paper to the jar with the person or thing they are thankful for within the given category. You’ll do #1 on your first day and go down the list in order, doing one category per day. After you’ve completed day 5 you start back at day 1 and keep rotating until Thanksgiving day. This is a great thing to do right after dinner each night while everyone is still sitting at the table together.
The 5 categories are:
- Basic Needs Explain to your children what these are. Shelter, food, clothing. More modern additions to this can be sanitation, healthcare and even education. You can be specific and say you are thankful for a warm bed or keep it broad to just say a roof over your head. This is a great time to discuss with your children that while these are basic needs, not all families have these things and this is why we are grateful. Each person in your family will choose one specific thing in this category, write it on a piece of paper, add it to the jar, and you’re done with day 1!
- People Discuss the importance of people and relationships in our lives. Of course starting with the people in your home but expanding to all family members, friends, neighbors, teachers, doctors, public servants (i.e. policemen, firemen, etc) Be specific with the people you know (don’t just say “family”, but rather name specific people in your family) however, feel free to keep it broad with public servants by just saying “policemen” if you don’t know any personally. That’s it for day 2!
- Fun This is where your kids will love to give thanks for specific toys or fun places like the park or zoo. Having this category let’s them know they’ll have a chance to say thanks for these things so they’re not only writing down a different toy every day leading up to Thanksgiving. I love this category because we know what is fun for our kids but they may not know what we consider fun. The “toy” I’m most grateful for these days is my robot vacuum and I highly doubt Jack would think that it’s a fun toy! Anyway, add your papers to the jar and day 3 is done!
- Anything On this day your family can name anything they are thankful for from any of the previous categories or if there’s a category I forgot about, this is the time to say thanks for that! Easy peasy for day 4!
- Pay it Forward This is what ties all of this together and is likely different from any other Thankful Jar premise. On this day I want you and your family to think back on the things you gave thanks for from the previous four categories. Now I want you to think about someone who may not have one of those things you are thankful for. It can be specific people like a friend who may not have the toy your child is thankful for, or a neighbor who doesn’t have any family close-by, or it can be broad like poverty-stricken children whose basic needs are not met. Whatever you land on, I want you to pay it forward. The friend from school who doesn’t have that toy? Invite him over to come play with it! The neighbor with no family? Bring over some cookies and be their family for a little while. The children in need? Have your child help you make a donation to an organization that provides for these families. It’s especially meaningful if you have your child pick some clothing that they have outgrown to donate to these children. Giving thanks daily is such a great way to raise humble, grateful children, but adding in this final and major lesson of servitude shows your children, in the easiest way, what it means to be Christ-like. Giving what is most valuable to you and giving your time to those who need it.
Tip! Keep your jar in the center of your dinner table so you will remember to do it every night! If you’ve never used a Thankful Jar, we hope this starts you off on the right foot! If you’ve used one before and struggled to keep up with it as we have, we hope this gives you a new sense of direction to make it successful for your family.
We need more generous hearted people in our world. Generous people are thankful people. Let’s raise our children to be the thankful, generous people our world so desperately needs!
From our family to yours, have a happy and thankful Thanksgiving!
Love it? Have questions? Comment below!