How to Encourage Gratitude in Your Children

Posted March 23, 2018

In Blog, Montessori School in Guelph, Montessori tips for Parents

Feeling gratitude can help your child feel fulfilled in their life, and it can start at a young age. Appreciating what we have can help us to feel fulfilled later in life and can even provide our children with self-esteem, better sleep and psychological health that lasts well into adulthood.

Here’s how you can help your child learn gratitude at home:

Show Gratitude Through Your Words & Actions

Montessori learning is based largely on observing, so showing gratitude through your own words and actions can be a great model for your children. You can do this through indirect presentations by displaying gratitude at the dinner table, through small acts of kindness and more. It’s important through this indirect presentation to show our children to be thankful for what we have every day.

Slowing Down

Modern life presents many obstacles that get in the way of slowing down and appreciating what we have in life. Our lives are often fast-paced and filled with distractions like technology. But you can incorporate rituals that help you and your children slow down at the end of the day. Before bed, your children can help you clean up the dinner table, you can read together and practice bedtime hygiene rituals. Spending this time with our children shows them that we are grateful for and respect them.

Make Space for Self-Reflection

It’s important for both you and your children to have a space in your home for self-reflection. Many Montessori classrooms have this and it encourages children to check in with their emotions and feelings and express gratitude. You can do this at home by making sure there’s a space with a comfortable area to sit (like a soft rug), something to touch and feel or a quiet puzzle.

For more tips on how to extend Montessori learning and practices into your home, check out our blog.

Glynis Hamilton

I am Glynis Hamilton, the owner of the Montessori School of Wellington. When I had my children I knew exactly what I wanted for them in terms of early childhood education. It was only when I visited a beautiful Montessori school in Toronto that I knew I had found what I was looking for. I became intrigued by Montessori and so, at the ripe old age of 44, I went back to school and then switched career from legal secretary to Montessori teacher. Since that time, Montessori has become a way of life for me. The past 20 years have been a joy rather than a job. I have moved from being front line in the classroom to the office doing more administrative work. But, my office door is almost always open to the classroom where I can hear the children’s laughter and welcome them in for a visit. I truly love what I do.