gratitude jar

In parenting and mindfulness it is important to start where you are and work towards where you would like to end up.  We have been working hard at having a family meeting at Thursday night dinner.  It is also a time where we review jobs progress for the week and appointment the new menu planning person.  Slowly becoming an accepted tradition.  

One positive psychology strategy is to start writing down things you are grateful for.  There are many ways you can do this.  Over the last week I decided to place a jar on the table, cut up strips of paper to put next to the jar and invite family members to write down things for which they are grateful.  Out of five family members, three contributed (including me).  I brought the jar up at the family meeting and my child who had not contributed grabbed the jar and insisted we read them out.  We took two each but then the kids decided they wanted to read them all out.  Here are some of the things the children were grateful for.

• I am grateful (sic) for double pe
• PE
• computer screen
• yesterday I had writing
• the internet
• friends
• curriculum day
• cross country
• potato cakes (that was one of my mine)