Let It Begin With Me

I don't know about you, but I am often so discouraged by the attitudes of my children when it comes to things that aren't fair or that are hard or the why nots? Maybe it's just my house where these words are dared to be uttered from the mouths of babes who have never experienced a true hardship in their lives. Babes whose every second of the day is taken care of or provided for by their parents in some way or another. Sadly, I can see them buying into this whole entitlement attitude.

If you know me very intimately, you'll know that I am personally the most inconsistent person alive. I don't think that's much of an exaggeration. I am inconsistent in my attempts to eat well. A piece of chocolate in my path is like a squirrel to a dog. I am inconsistent in my attempts to exercise. I have said this year I am going to learn to love, well, at least I told Jake that one day. You know how many times I've run this year? 1...1 time I put on my new cold weather running gear and ran a  mile and a half at 7:30pm. Once! I'm inconsistent in my attempts to get my house clean, purged, organized and kept clean, purged and organized. I printed pages for a home organizing/calendar thing from Clean Mama and it's never made it into the binder, let alone followed even to a lower case S! (I obviously don't follow much to a T). I have managed to wash the sheets and towels 2 Saturdays in a row! I think that deserves a piece of chocolate, don't you?

So if I am this inconsistent with things that really shouldn't be that difficult, you can only imagine how inconsistent I am with my children! They are 'good' kids. I don't get discipline calls from the school or from their teachers at school. Even Harper fears having 'a moment,' aka time out! That's only because she consistently gets them at her school for not sharing or not refusing to put on a paint shirt or whatever her petty offense of the day is.

But at home, they are quite comfortable with voicing their opinions and questioning their parents' choices and decisions. Like today...We usually have donuts from breakfast on Saturdays, the only thing that happens consistently, but today we didn't get donuts. Honestly, I forgot until about 6pm last night. We decided we would do them on Monday since they're out of school for MLK day. Do you know how many times we have answered the question "Why aren't we getting donuts tomorrow?" and one little girl even had the gall to say this morning, "There's nothing for breakfast. I really want a donut." Come on, they're entitled to Saturday morning donuts, right? Unfortunately, donuts was just the tip of the iceberg today.

In my head, I am thinking over strategies or plans to help them understand the power of gratitude and to grasp just how many specific things and people and places for which they should be grateful. I read Ann Voskamp's 1000 Gifts last year and started inconsistently keeping a gratitude journal. I have done fairly well with it since the beginning of the year...thank you very much! I love how when I think about the good and not so good parts of my days or my life or my kids I realize just how good God is to us in the absolute mundane moments of our lives.

I've been thinking about practical ways to start my kids on their own gratitude journeys. I have dreams of Gratitude Jars and Gratitude Journals or of all of my children sitting quietly and listening to each other talk about the things they are grateful for, but let's be real! It may happen one day and not the next and then I'll be discouraged and throw in the towel. Baby steps, right, because remember I am totally inconsistent. So for now, to help my kids get started on their journey to thankfulness and to help them be specific in their thanks, I am giving each of the older 3 a copy of this Thankful A to Z printable from The Crafting Chicks. Hopefully this will help to jog their little brains about all the little blessings they have. Since we have a long weekend, it's the perfect time to start their lists! From there, we'll see what we can handle. I may hang a sign in my kitchen that says "Just say thank you" as a reminder that there are often no other words necessary! Too passive-aggressive?

Through reading Kristen Welch's book, Raising Grateful Kids, I have really been challenged to be intentional in training my kids to be aware of all they have to be thankful for. The reality is that when I become a grateful person and my kids see gratitude patterned in my own life, their understanding for gratitude will be deepened. It starts with me. I'm committed to this journey. I desperately want my kids to understand the value of people and things. They are going to mirror my attitudes so I need to keep my attitudes about things and people and time in check. They need to see me consistently expressing gratitude naturally as we go about our days.

What are your thoughts? Are your kids tipping toward entitlement attitudes? How can we better instill gratitude into our children? What do you do in your own home? And you should definitely read through Kristen's book.

This post is part of the Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World Blog Hop. Hop on over and read others' experiences in this journey to Raising Grateful Kids.

Inspiring an Attitude of Gratitude - by Alison
Rasisng Grateful Kids - by amanda
Why You Can't Buy Gratitude At The Dollar Store - by Andrea
Missing - Gratefulness in our home - by Ange
Choosing Gratitude - by Angela
Gratefullness - by chaley
5 Steps to Gratitude-Fille Family - by Christa
Practicing Grateful Parenting - by Dana
Sing a Song - by Hannah
Cultivating gratitude in our family - by Jamie
Gratefulness In Our Home - by Jana
Gratefulness In Our Home - by Jana
Let It Begin With Me - by Jen
Choosing Gratefulness - by Jennifer
Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World - The Book - by jeri
Eradicating Entitlement - What are you rooted in? - by Jessica
Gratefulness in our home - by Kate
The Problem With Entitlement is that it begins with us - by Katelyn
7 Unusual Ways I Know How to Be Grateful - by Kathryn
Raising Grateful Kids - by Keri
How My Children Remind Me to Pray with Gratitude - by Kishona
Grateful - by Kristy
Entitlement: The Ugly Truth of a Beautiful Lie - by Leigha
The Most Important Thing You Can Do To Raise Grateful Kids - by Lindsey
Dear Son: How Do I Teach You To Be Grateful Without Guilt? - by Marie Osborne
Gratitude, A Practical Definition - by Mia
Cultivating Gratitude in Our Home - by Nancy
Learning Gratitude through Chronic Illness - by Rachel
Being Grateful - by Rebecca
I've Found Something I Can't Live Without - by Sarah
The Power of Naming our Gifts - by Sarah
Outfitted - by Sarah Jo
Growing Gratitude in our Family - by Sondra
Teaching Gratefulness - by Stephanie
How Grateful Looks From Here - by Alison
Fighting Entitlement in Children and All of us - by Leah
Entitlement Problem - by Karrie
Grateful Today - by Krystal