Gratitude 2

The value GRATITUDE can best be encouraged in children by presenting them with positive role models, not only through value stories, but also through the teacher’s own exemplary behaviour. Gratitude is a value that is often neglected. We may remember to say “thank you” as an automatic response to help, but gratitude does not only involve remembering to thank people for their service to us on a daily basis. It also involves being constantly mindful of those people, such as parents, who have supported us in the past and therefore have enabled us to reach the position that we are in today. We are all only here because of both of our natural parents. For that alone we should feel indebted to them. To show gratitude to our parents or relations could, for example, take the form of regular visits/letters/phone calls. In those acts, however small, our gratitude is subtly expressed. Sometimes it may be hard for us to feel gratitude if we have not had a good relationship with a person. We may even resent behaving in a friendly or caring manner towards them. At these times it is perhaps helpful to remember that if we allow our love to flow, without putting up barriers, we ourselves will be the beneficiaries because we will feel good about our actions.
Gratitude cannot be seen as an act of generosity or altruism because it is only a correct and natural acknowledgement and response to having received something in the first place. Gratitude can be hard to practice because it requires a degree of humility.