Thanksgiving is a special holiday, it is always important to give thanks to
those we care about and love. Often, one day is often not enough to say
thank you to all who care for us and are kind to us in an entire year. Why
not use Thanksgiving to introduce a new ritual in your home in order to
give thanks everyday?
Setting Up Your Happy Thoughts Board:
- Purchase (or use the one you already have) a refrigerator white board or
chalk board which you can write on and rub off.
- Attach it to the refrigerator in a place low enough for younger children
who can write to reach it and write on it.
How To Use It:
Now that you have your Happy Thoughts Board in place you can introduce your
new family ritual. Use the board to write the names of people you need to
send your prayers, thoughts or meditations to. Children may want to send
thoughts to a child at school who was teased that day, or in the case of a
global disaster they may want to send these prayers to the victims.
You may wish to send uplifting thoughts to a friend in trouble or a family
member who is ill. You or your children may wish to send thanks to someone
who helped them -- perhaps the bus driver let them on even though they left
their fare at home or someone traded lunches with them because they didn't
like what you made. Maybe the supermarket checkout operator was especially
nice to you today or a debt collector gave you just one more week to get
that payment in. Set a time each day -- perhaps before dinner or before bed
when you, as a family, go through your list for the day and send your
thoughts and thanks to those who helped you and those who you'd like to
help. If you are religious you may choose to say prayers for those people.
The way in which you give your thanks and send your "happy thoughts" is
entirely up to you and your spiritual background and the reasons for you to
send your happy thoughts may be wide and varied.
Remember not to make your children's thanks and thoughts seem less
important even if to you they're not of global importance, to them a child
letting them trade lunches is a fine kindness!
You can easily keep anyone who requires prayers or thoughts for a long
period of time on the board and remove any which are completed for that day
and being again the next day.
Children learn gratitude, the importance of saying thank you and spend
their days on the look out for people they can thank and help -- and so do
you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kylie Ardill is editor of the Australian online magazine for Families, Box
Planet [ http://www.boxplanet.com.au ]. She lives on the Central Coast of
NSW with her gorgeous husband Joseph and sweet son Samual and commentates
weekly at her site on current affairs and topics sure to get some folks hot
under the collar.
