Students can learn to develop more gratitude and appreciate their blessings if they are taught in school and home to do so with new strategies. Students are not always thankful in every situation due to this generation’s lack of sense of gratitude. They often want things handed to them and do not always appreciate what their adults, parents, teachers, and families do for them.
They also have a habit of complaining a lot when they are given assignments by teachers and responsibility by parents; so what do they get from this ungrateful attitude? Is there a way to foster gratitude in young students? Let us explore some ways to solve this complex issue of the new generation.
The family Environment
Before we explore the techniques to develop gratitude in the students, let us be aware that most of the ungrateful behavior is due to what they learn at home and how their society treats them. In the classroom and outside world, students who complain a lot never had a training at home to instill gratitude and be thankful for what they are given.
Draw Their Attention To Positive Things
Children learn by example. The more they hear you express gratitude, the more naturally they will express gratitude themselves. It is important to include gratitude in the daily life of children in daily conversations at home and school by focusing on their small victories in studies, life, and sports. Saying “great job” or “wow, you are a champ” wins their heart. They must learn to say “thank you” for being kind to them.
Thank Them For Their Efforts
Another effective way to instill gratitude in students is to thank them for their sincere cooperation and hard work in any task at school or home. A caring teacher or parent is one who gives a genuine compliment and never forgets to appreciate children. Giving them short thank you notes and sending them emails will serve as a token of appreciation.
Give Them Responsibility
It is frustrating for teachers if they spend a lot of hours planning and preparing the lecture and students only criticise it; their disregard for their work is annoying. They are taking the teacher’s hard work for granted and cannot realize how hard they are trying to run the classroom. Giving them responsibility will enhance their sense of gratitude and they will better collaborate and appreciate teachers in the classroom.
Build Appreciation For Necessities
Most often best things in life are given to students who often take no pain to enjoy and benefit from them; this decreases their sense of responsibility and gratitude. If they are taught to be grateful for food, water, necessities etc, they will be better able to understand the value of these things in life.They should even be thankful for a new shirt or a pen they buy, knowing that there are students in the world who do not have the resources to buy books or clothes to join school.
Read Books About Gratitude
The best way to learn and know about good habits is to read books; reading stories of gratitude in the classrooms and sharing with students the ideas about how to build gratitude can boost their reading comprehension and help them understand the concept of gratitude. Therefore reading gratitude books is one of the simplest way to reinforce the attitude of gratitude in their lives.
Keep a Class Journal
A good way to develop gratitude in children is to keep a class gratitude journal. Ask students to write down ten things in life they are grateful for; this will help them to think about things they have never thought. Ask them to share their class gratitude journal with other peers and be grateful for the blessings they have. Students can read their class journal at the end of the class and help each other prepare it; during a close meeting, they can develop new ideas to improve their class journal.
Ask Them to Write Letters of Gratitude
A good strategy to promote gratitude is to ask them to write letters to someone whom they have never thanked in their lives. There are many people who help us during our lifetimes, even a person who shows us the way to our school in the street deserves our thanks. Thank you emails or letters will develop positive emotions in kids; three months of this exercise will develop great habits in them.
Ask them to Help the Less Fortunate
Children often live in their homes and community and they have no idea about the problems of the world and less fortunate people in the world. If they are given a chance to serve the less fortunate by sharing their love, books, toys, even internet with them, this will provide them a whole new light to shine brightly.
