Ideas to cultivate thankfulness in your children
When you buy your daughter a new pair of shoes, does she say thanks? How does your son respond when you make his favorite dinner or shoot baskets with him the night before school tryouts?
As a parent, you want your children to appreciate their many blessings and to develop a growing heart of gratitude to God for His goodness and faithfulness.
But our materialistic culture sends dangerous messages to kids, telling them they don’t have the right clothes or enough stuff. It’s a parenting challenge to teach thankfulness and contentment to your children when the culture is screaming “Buy me now!” “You deserve this!” “You need more!”
The one who says thanks
One time, during His travels to Jerusalem, Jesus encountered 10 men who had leprosy, a contagious skin disease. They called out to Jesus, asking for mercy and healing. Jesus healed all 10 of them.
But only one came back to say thanks. What happened in the hearts of the other nine? How can you teach your children about gratitude and to always be the first ones to express thankfulness?
Train your child to be like the grateful man who returned to thank Jesus. Perhaps one or more of these ideas will help your parenting efforts:
- Encourage your children to write thank-you notes after every birthday or holiday if they received gifts from friends or relatives.
- Start a gratitude journal. Ask each family member to record one or two things each week that they’re grateful to God for in their life.
- Don’t say “yes” to everything your children request. Conquer the spirit of entitlement when they are young.
Focus on serving others
When children cultivate a heart for others, they learn the value of being content with what they have instead of complaining about what they might lack.
Think about these action steps:
- The best place to teach about serving others is right in your own home. Every family member should contribute to household chores and do so joyfully. No whining or complaining!
- With the holidays approaching, serve a family in your neighborhood facing a difficult time or an elderly neighbor by making a meal, raking leaves or helping with a small home repair.
- Organize a food drive in your neighborhood and collect non-perishable food items to stock the local food pantry.
- Visit a nursing home and offer a glimpse of God’s love to elderly residents who may feel lonely during the holiday season.
Read, study and learn about thankfulness
Engage the minds of your children through books and God’s Word as you teach them about gratitude. Consider these suggestions:
- Read the new children’s book by Awana President/CEO Jack Eggar, Sparky Shines His Light, that teaches kids how to grow grateful hearts.
- At dinner, read the story of the 10 lepers in Luke 17:11-19. Ask your children what they would have done if Jesus had healed them.
‘You mean the world doesn’t revolve around me?’
Many kids really do think the world revolves around them, and their needs always seem to be the most urgent and pressing. But expanding your children’s worldview will help immensely as you show them the struggles kids their age face each day in many parts of the world.
Try these next steps to help your children see beyond themselves:
- Encourage your church’s Awana program to participate in Adopt-a-Club. This program enables, through financial gifts and prayer, boys and girls to learn about Jesus all across the world.
- Sponsor a child through an organization like World Vision or Compassion and build a relationship with your sponsored child in a developing part of the world.
- Go on a missions trip through your church or other mission organization for your next family vacation. Allow your child to see poverty and how children in under-resourced countries face daily life. They will never be the same—and neither will you.
Using words and actions to express gratitude
Making sure that your words and actions consistently reflect a thankful heart sends powerful messages to your children. Here are a few ideas:
Model a grateful spirit for your children. Thank the grocery story clerk in the checkout lane. Express appreciation to your waitress at a restaurant. Thank your pastor after a Sunday service.
- Pray at meal times and thank God for His daily provisions. Teach your children to remember to thank God for His goodness and not just make requests.
- Encourage your children to express gratitude to their Awana leaders. Take time to write a note, draw a picture or verbally say “thanks” for their hours of faithful service throughout the year.
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Helping your children share their faith in Christ
Do you remember looking for the perfect smooth stone to skip across a pond or lake? When you found it, you assumed the proper throwing position, stretched your arm back and released the stone into the water. What happened? With the right rock and right release, you’d watch the rock skim over the water several times, making ripples with each skip.
Faith in Jesus Christ is kind of like that. When you live out your faith with authenticity and conviction, it causes ripples in your various spheres of influence – whether at home, in the neighborhood, at work or at school. Your life touches another life, which touches another life, and it keeps moving outward. People notice a vibrant faith and may ask questions or want to know what the Christian faith is all about.
You need to be prepared—and so do your kids.
As parents, God commands you to be the primary spiritual influencers in your child’s life. One aspect of spiritual training is evangelism. It may seem daunting. But even children can share their faith in Christ and make ripples in others’ lives.
Before you can make spiritual ripples …
In order to make a ripple, you have to throw a rock. In a spiritual sense, before your child can make spiritual ripples, you need to make sure your child knows Christ personally. Do you know if your child has ever trusted Christ for salvation? Have you? You can make sure by reading God’s plan of salvation.
If he has accepted Christ as his Savior, encourage your child to grow spiritually through participation in Awana. Awana is a ministry devoted to equipping children ages 2 to 18 to know, love and serve Christ. You can find an Awana program at a church in your area here.
Finding the right stones …
Making ripples requires some preparation. Here are a few ideas to help your children prepare to share their faith with friends:
- Challenge your child to identify three friends to invite to Awana or church in the next three months. Write those names on a note card. Include pictures if available.
- Make a plan to invite the three friends. Choose a date and then call or make an invitation.
- Encourage your child to role-play sharing her faith with you. Provide her with coaching, teaching and encouragement.
Preparing to launch …
Getting ready to verbalize their faith might seem scary to some kids. You can help ease any fears and give your child confidence.
Think about these ideas:
- Pray each day with your child for the three friends on the note card. Teach your child about the power of prayer and why God asks you to pray.
- Take your child on a prayer walk around your neighborhood or school. Walk and pray for friends who don’t yet know Christ personally.
- Get your child actively involved in church and Awana so they can grow spiritually and learn to talk about faith with increasing confidence.
Releasing the stones …
Your child has identified a few friends and prayed for them. Now it’s time to take action and start the ripples. Let your child know how proud you are that he or she is taking spiritual risks and demonstrating boldness. Here are a few ways to take next steps:
- Offer to drive your child’s friends to church or Awana each week.
- Brainstorm ways your child can talk about faith. Each day is filled with opportunities for spiritual conversations. Know how to look for open doors.
- Teach your child how to make a guest feel comfortable at church or Awana. Introduce first-time visitors to other kids and leaders. Provide them a Bible. Encourage your child to invite his friend to your home to play and to work on their Awana books together.
Celebrating the ripples …
Affirm your child’s desire to share the gospel and reach friends for Christ. Celebrate the ripples made in people’s lives and watch how God is at work in changing lives. Try these suggestions with your child:
- Encourage your child to follow up with any friends after church or Awana and answer any questions. You can follow up with parents, too. See if they have any interest in spiritual things and invite them to church.
- Keep inviting and reaching out with God’s love to friends and neighbors.
- Read an age-appropriate book about evangelism with your child. Help your child grow in her understanding of how to share her faith.
- Teach your child how to share her testimony – the story of how she came to know Christ personally and how He is working in her life today.
- Explore possible futures in evangelism. Share exciting missionary stories. Invite a missionary from your church to your home for dinner. Learn about careers in ministry.
- Does your church’s Awana program run The Great ShakeUP, a kid-to-kid evangelism event from Awana? If so, encourage your children to get involved.
- Awana® at Home™ exists for parents who are dedicated to raising spiritual champions. Encourage your church to run Awana at Home this year to support and equip all the parents in your church.
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