Growing grateful kids Learning to be thankful for the important
things in life ... Gratitude is a positive way of thinking and
viewing the world. Raising a grateful child is a hard thing to
accomplish in a culture that wants everything now and is quick
to move onto the next best thing but gratitude is an important
life skill. By learning gratitude, children learn to become
sensitive to the feelings of others, developing empathy and
other life skills such as the ability to view situations
positively. Grateful children begin to learn to look outside
their one-person world. When a child does not learn gratitude,
there is a risk that the child may end up feeling entitled and
perpetually disappointed. Research suggests that gratitude is
something that many adults have not yet developed and find
difficult to practice. Children who are encouraged to be
grateful throughout childhood, will typically be more
appreciative later in life. A 2003 study at the University of
California in Davis, showed that grateful people r