With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, it has gotten me thinking about ways that I can help Lil’ Pizza grow in her understanding of being thankful. This abstract concept is pretty difficult to grasp for a toddler, but it’s always a good idea to plant the seed early and to continue to nurture a grateful heart.

Here are some ideas of what I have been doing (and hope to do more of) with Lil’ Pizza:

1) Create a “Thankful Tree” to talk about the different things that your child is thankful for. Instead of asking Lil’ Pizza what she is thankful for, which doesn’t mean much to her right now. I will ask her questions like, “What made you happy today?” or “Who do you love seeing/playing with/spending time with?” Some of her answers are silly like today she was thankful for Unicornio from Dora. I try to elaborate more with her and will then say something like, “Are you thankful for Unicornio because he is very nice to everyone?”

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I asked her what/who she was most thankful for today and she pointed to “Dora, Unicornio.” She has been talking about him nonstop for the past month so I guess there’s no denying that she really is thankful for him.

2) Read books that talk about being thankful. So far we have read “Thanks for Thanksgiving” by Julie Markes and “Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks” by Margaret Sutherland. These books offer a good segue to talk to your child about the things they are thankful for. There were certain things in the book that Lil’ Pizza loves too, so I would point those out and say something like, “I bet you are thankful for piggyback rides too!”

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3) Listen to the Daniel Tiger song “Thank you for Everything you do.” Lil’ Pizza and I have been obsessively listening to Daniel Tiger’s Neighorhood – Life’s Little Lessons music which you can listen to completely free with an Amazon Prime membership. Lil’ Pizza loves music and I’m always pleasantly surprised when she starts singing a song to connect with a real life moment. It’s just another way to remind Lil’ Pizza that “everyday is a great day to say thank you!”

4) Weave your “thanks” into your conversations. I am trying to remember to say things like “Thank you for the hug. That made me very happy.”

5) Say thank you to your child. I think it’s important to show your child that they are not the only ones that should say thank you, but that we can all say thank you to show our appreciation to others.

6) Find opportunities for your child to give to others. It can start off as something as simple as giving a toy to a friend or baking cookies for someone they care about. When I worked at the hospital, we came across kids that would donate their birthday presents to the sick kids at the hospital. It truly is an admirable sight!

7) Say no. I’ve helped Lil’ Pizza develop this bad habit where when she hears me making a bottle for Baby Pizza, she will race into the kitchen and ask me if she can play a game on the iPad. After some time, it just got a bit ridiculous how conditioned she got to expecting to play the iPad whenever I fed Baby Pizza. The first few no’s were a bit rough, but now she knows that it’s not always an automatic yes and she’s okay with that.

8) Model it. Children learn so much by what they see in our day to day interactions. The funny thing is that because I want to be a better example to my daughters, I try to be better about saying thank you to Mr. Pizza for the thoughtful things he does for me. I guess as much as we are teaching our children, they are teaching us too.

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What are some ways to nurture a grateful heart in your child?  I would love to hear your ideas!