Giving Thanks, A Different Perspective
This Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to remember the blessings of daily life and remind our children to be thankful for little things.
The next time you sit on veggie sticks in your seat or pull a toy out of the toilet, give thanks! Well, as much as you can. Having these little moments means you are a busy parent, and you have active kiddos in the house. This is a blessing!
Having a messy car comes with the territory. Trust me, when your kiddos grow up, you’ll miss it. Those road trips with sack lunches or stops at McDonald’s are the stuff dreams are made of. This Thanksgiving, try being present in the moments. If things don’t go exactly as planned, roll with it. Your children won’t remember the perfect table setting, but they will remember when someone spilled the gravy while passing it!
Winnie the Pooh once said, “Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in our heart.”
Think about that. Instead of comparing yourself to all those photos on social media, be glad you have great internet and step back from it during holidays. Instead, try setting up a card table and having everyone write what they are thankful for each day of November leading up to Thanksgiving. Your daughter may be thankful for the new hair ribbon you gave her. Your son may like the new tennis shoes. You may like the new coffee creamer you found, and your husband may like that he was able to fix the car headlight!
This way of thinking can transfer to each day. Make a conscious effort to be thankful for small things that are big in the long run.
“To be thankful for one thing is infinitely more powerful than to be bitter about a hundred others” is a quote from licensed counselor Craig D. Lounsbrough. It’s a great thought to ponder. To put this in perspective, before you begin worrying about what will go wrong when you prepare your Thanksgiving dinner, try to be thankful that you have a kitchen filled with food and supplies. That your children like to help you stir and measure. And that you have a table to set food on. Perfection is definitely overrated. A full sink of dirty dishes means little mouths were fed. There will come a time when you miss that, trust me!
A favorite blessing of mine was when my son and daughter would have friends over, the kids would all leave their shoes at the front door, something I suppose some mom in our neighborhood made them do and a trend that stuck. One day I counted 40 pairs of shoes! I thought about getting a basket to organize them, but there was something about that menagerie of footwear at my front door that makes me smile even today. Both my kids are living on their own now, but they both still recall the fun times in our basement, which was always a mess but so inviting to the kids. I actually got my walls painted because all the girls were dancing against them in their new blue jeans whose dye rubbed off on any surface touched!
Keeping a thankful attitude will get you through many of life’s moments. For example, when you pick your son up from football practice with his buddies, and the smell of their sweaty uniforms knocks you over, remember they are being coached and learning. Just open the windows of the car and be thankful they are involved in sports!
It’s raining during the soccer game. Be thankful for hot chocolate, friends, umbrellas and raincoats! It is easy to fall into a complaining mode, but little ears and eyes are everywhere, and those children will take their cue from you.
There will be times when life just seems too much, but in those times, take it easy. Look at what is directly in front of you, be it your coffee cup, your toothbrush or your child’s lunch box. Take care of one task at a time and don’t get too weighed down.
This foundation of thought is almost as important as potty training. When your children complain about getting up early, losing a game, falling down or even just being in a bad mood, remind them that life really is good. Notice how the sun shines on the window or how the cat purrs up against their legs, or just tell them your love for each other is a big reason to smile every day.
This Thanksgiving season, make a little extra effort in the thankful department. The past year has been one of so many ups and downs, and all of us have been prompted to look inside our own little worlds and, hopefully, see things we were overlooking before that make us happy.
As Scarlett O’hara said, “Tomorrow is another day!”
Judy Goppert lives in Lee’s Summit. She enjoys drawing on her personal experiences to write about the nuances of everything wonderful about life.
Sources: Crosswalk.com, ThePeacefulNestBlog.com