A Ministry of Lakewood Park Baptist Church Children's Department

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Nov 6th - Gratitude: Making It Stick At Home

The following is a true story from a family in our church.

In order to help my teenager develop and exercise an attitude of gratitude, we would play the "Glad Game" (inspired by the book and movie, Pollyanna) on our way to school in the mornings.  In the game, it was my job to think of a bad situation, and my child would have to come up with something happy about it.  After a few rounds, we would switch roles, and I would have to think of thankfulness items.  (We started doing this as a way to defeat morning grouchiness, but my long-term goal was to teach a life-time habit of optimism and praise - traits my teenager struggled with at the time.)  Here's what our game sounded like one morning.


Parent - "Oh no, it's raining today."
Child - "Oh, good! Now we won't get sunburned!"

Parent - "Oh no, our neighbor's house burned down."
Child - "Oh, good! Now they can stay with us, and we can become better friends!"

Parent - "Oh no, a meteor just hit that business and smashed it to pieces."
Child - "Oh, good! Now we can have a rebuilding party!"

Parent - "Did you know we're going to eat green beans tonight."
Child - (long pause)

Parent - "<Child's Name>?"
Child - "Well...I just can't think of anything good about that."

I laughed so hard, I almost drove into the other lane of traffic!  :-)


*****How about you?  If you have a story to share about how your child's lessons have been reinforced at home, please tell us about it in the comments section, or send us an email.  You can also share the story with us on Facebook, or catch up with us at church to tell us all about it!  You may find your family's story featured on this blog soon after.

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