Sunthing Special

For many years I kept “gratitude” journals to try to help become a more positive, appreciative person. At the end of each day I would list all the things (minimum of three) that made me happy that day. It couldn’t be the absence of a bad thing, like “I didn’t get hit by a car today”. It had to be positive. When I had really bad days sometimes I would sit there for a long time trying to come up with something. But even if I had to write things like “eating m&m’s” or “the sun shined”, I would force myself to do it. When the kids came it got harder and harder to do (I was so tired by the time I finally got to bed!) and eventually I stopped. We’ve tried to do it with the kids on and off during the last several years to help instill a sense of gratitude in them, but now we’re doing it with a twist. The kids each have to name at least five things, then my husband and I illustrate one of the things they listed. Our drawings are pretty silly, but the kids get a big kick out of them. Now they LOVE to do their gratitude journals, and they will even sit on their beds looking back at previous entries. Even if we can’t sustain the journaling, I figure whatever we have will still be a unique keepsake for each of the kids.