My children are not grateful. They complain about everything from what I make for meals, to the toys they have, to where they get to play and even the kind of dessert they have! It's getting pretty ridiculous. I heard this idea from someone else and I have decided it is time to implement it. Starting tomorrow my family is going through a week of "Grateful Bootcamp."
Meals will be nutritious but the same meal for the whole week. Oatmeal with milk and banana slices for breakfast. Peanut butter sandwiches and apple slices for lunch. Beans and rice with steamed broccoli for dinner. All week. No dessert.
There will be no tv allowed. Instead, we will read, do chores, work on our crafts, numbers and letters and do service acts for others. I'm working on planning out those services right now. I know we're going to make cookies to take to family members, write thank you cards to people who mean a lot to us or have helped us in some way, donate toys and clothes to the local thrift store that profits the humane society. I'm also going to call some local nursing homes and see if we could visit some people who don't have a lot of visitors. I want my children to give these people a smile and a piece of their artwork, so they know someone cares about them.
In addition to all this, I'm printing off quotes and scriptures about being grateful for us to all read and memorize.
I'm hoping this week leaves an impression on my kids! They get rewarded at the end of the week with a trip to the movie theater and popcorn. My guess is they will really be grateful for it. And I think me and dh will learn something too. Wish us luck! And if you have anymore ideas to instill gratefulness this week, please throw them at me!
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Comments: 34
God bless!
And during county fair week, that's when Dad decided I need to be on a strict food allergy diet. I didn't have any food allergies, but he wanted to be sure.
(bye bye funnel cakes, elephant ears, corn dogs, and snow cones)
But that's ok. Your Mom job isn't to be loved but to teach them how to try and outsmart the pitfalls of life - and learn compassion. And life (real life) is a bit nasty and cold at times.
Just don't do the "farm thing" like I was made to do, ha ha, unless you want to raise your kids to be experienced migrant workers or something like that.
Maybe they need to understand how incredibly rich their lives are compared to all the rest of the world. Consider cancelling dance lessons or soccer for the week as well. Take away wheelies and cell phones--especially cell phones--for the week. In what other country do kids thino they have to have them?! Make them wear the same clothes every day for the whole week and hand wash their underwear every night before they go to bed because they don't have additional sets to wear--the way kids do as a matter of course in many countries. That's exactly how it is in much of *Western* Europe--let alone the poorer areas in Eastern Europe. Get information on the lives and malnutrition of children in Eastern European orphanages. I know of many where the food you plan to serve would be a feast beyond imagining compared to the little watery soup they usually get. Have you ever heard stories about how these kids respond when well fed after being adoptd by US families?!
See if there is a way for them to learn what it is like to be a foster child in the US.
I dont have kids but I am curious to know how things turn out with that week. You didnt mention how old your kids are but have you thought about how you will handle it if one of your kids just refuses doing that stuff even though they may know what their reward will be at the end of that Grateful Bootcamp Week?
One week is a lot of time and are you sure you can handle it emotionally when they start asking for different food or toys or whatever is taken from them.
So far, so good. I'll post an article about our day when the kids are in bed.
Blessings to you and your precious growing family...