Blog posts of '2014' 'November'

I’ve got a fun Thanksgiving tradition to share with you! It started for my family last year. Every year except the year before last, I had knocked myself out cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the entire family. But that’s when I had had it and insisted on having the Thanksgiving celebration at a restaurant. That decision prompted everyone to consider doing something else the next year.

Currently my family lives on the bottom floor of an apartment building. My daughter has her own apartment, my son, daughter-in-law, and three granddaughters have their own apartment, and I have mine. So it’s easy for all of us to get together for meals and special occasions.

Last year at a family meeting it was decided that instead of me preparing the whole dinner, each person would choose a dish to prepare. Believe it or not, my 11-year-old granddaughter chose to cook the turkey! I have to confess that we were all a tad bit dubious about this assignment but any worries were quickly dispelled as we watched her dive into researching how to cook a turkey. (That’s when it was confirmed for the entire family that almost anyone could cook almost anything with a recipe and the right ingredients!)

Each family member compiled the shopping list for his or her contributions to the dinner. Then two days before Thanksgiving, all of us went shopping together for our supplies. We had a blast!

The day before Thanksgiving, everyone was happily consumed with cooking in the three apartment kitchens. Of course I don’t need to tell you how good the entire bottom floor of the apartment smelled! A lot of our neighbors shared with us later that nothing put them more in the mood for the holiday like stepping off of the elevator into a hallway filled with wonderful culinary aromas!

But the best part of the experience was the dinner itself when everyone shared recipes and cooking experiences, and genuinely thanked each other for a job well done!

I can hardly wait to see what everyone comes up with this year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

How in the world are parents suppose to teach thankfulness to kids who have had everything they ever needed since the day they were born? It isn’t easy. Indeed, throughout the years I’ve only come across two strategies that are sure to work.

The first strategy is to engage in an experiment with your child during which he or she gives up for a period of time one thing that he or she loves more than anything else. Just think about it. If you were forced to give up for a week something that you thought you couldn’t live without (like your cell phone), wouldn’t you appreciate it much more when you got it back?

I know some parents who have tried this experiment during the week before Thanksgiving. Then on Thanksgiving Day, the favorite thing is returned to its owner. Many parents who have done this experiment report that the tradition of sharing things to be thankful for around the Thanksgiving table takes on a whole new dimension.

The second strategy is to expose your child to situations in which people are deprived of the blessings that your child might take for granted. For example, nothing is more powerful than volunteering in a soup kitchen or visiting a homeless shelter. Unfortunately there seems to be more and more of these places around, so they aren’t difficult to find.

I realize that most parents want to shelter their children from any kind of unpleasantness. But how else are they to acquire an understanding of the fact that the privileges they enjoy are not automatic realities for everyone and therefore should be appreciated?

At the very least these strategies are worth a try. And who knows? They could be worth it in the end because what good is having things if they are not embraced with a grateful spirit?