Thursday photo #300
For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to get into the habit of discussing gratitude with the children. Libby in particular often doesn’t realise how lucky she is. She has a strong sense of injustice if she feels like she’s being hard done by. So, it’s a useful exercise to stop and think about all the good things that are going on.
Gratitude
We were chatting about what we were thankful for yesterday over dinner and it got me thinking as well. Since Christmas, I’ve been running once or twice a day. It’s mainly to get ready for my next marathon, but there are other benefits as well. I quite easily shifted the excess Christmas weight without trying. I’m feeling much fitter and I’m managing to fit in runs at times when I wasn’t doing much else. Then my long runs have been on weekday mornings after dropping the children off at school, so I haven’t missed out on time with them either. I do feel lucky to have a job that gives me enough flexibility to do that.
The girls have been telling us all the material things they’re grateful for, as well as the activities they do. I hope that in time when we discuss things, they’ll realise how lucky they are that I’ve been able to be there for their childhood. I’ve managed to make it to their school plays, assemblies and services. I nearly always drop them off at school and pick them up afterwards and watch sporting events. I hope they’ll look back and realise how lucky they were. I certainly will.
Clearing the garden
We’re in full on decorating and gardening mode here at the moment. We usually go out for the day on a Saturday, but this year we’re working on the house instead. With a fair amount of help from Libby, I cut back a row of incredibly tall conifers and made a start on clearing our front garden at the weekend. It’s a work in progress, but we’re about ready for a fence to go up around it.
We’re hoping to have a lawn for the girls to play on and a small vegetable patch. We might extend our drive slightly as well to fit an extra car on. There are a few plants I want to keep, so I’m not sure exactly what it will look like yet but we’re looking forward to making use of an area that we’ve hardly used at all up to now.
Thursday photo #300
We grabbed a snap of the girls in the front garden yesterday. Libby always has a funny face on hand when the camera comes out.
Funny this, I was just thinking yesterday about my own kids and gratitude. I was spurred on to think about because of a comment I read a stepmum make. She said that when she became a stepmum, she was very surprised at the lack of gratitude her new step kids showed towards her. As a natural parent (…and stepson as it happens!) I can defo see the value in having regular chats with your kids on this subject!
Yes that’s true, it’s always worth having the conversations to make sure gratitude does develop as much as possible.
Nat.x
That’s a great photo! I think kids and gratitude is a definite work in progress. Do my own kids realise how fortunate they are? I don’t necessarily think so. I don’t think I appreciated all I had at home until I left home and I don’t think I appreciated all my parents did for me until I had kids of my own. That’s not because I was an ungrateful sod, that’s just the nature of kids!
Yes I completely agree, it’s definitely natural for children not to appreciate what they have. I think it’s slightly different with Libby because she’s always looking for the next thing she can have / do and I worry that she’s not enjoying things she does have rather than being ungrateful per se. Good to know it’s not just my kids though!
Nat.x