grateful

The topic of GRATITUDE seems to be everywhere this month. Why is it important? How do we

incorporate it into our kids’ lives? Why is a Pediatric Dentist office in Cedar Rapids

talking about gratitude?

Robert A. Emmins, Ph.D. is a professor of psychology and gratitude expert at UC Davis who

has spent years researching how gratitude practices impact overall mental and physical health.

He has found that people who are grateful have higher self esteem, are more resilient, less

retaliatory, and happier overall.

-Set up a gratitude station at your house for the holiday season. Create the

opportunity for people to share with their family members what makes them feel grateful

about them. For ours, we put a piece of Kraft Paper on the wall and then taped a lunch bag for each

family member onto it. We put some index cards and pencils on the table below and voila! A

place to reflect on gratitude and share those feelings with the ones we love most. It could also

be as simple as putting a notebook in a common area for everyone to share what they’re

grateful for.

-Explore kid friendly areas of Cedar Rapids in teams of two and make

sure each team has a camera or camera phone. Give everyone a list of photos to hunt for

related to things that make them feel grateful. Examples: Find something that makes you happy.

Find something that makes someone in your family smile. Find something that you love to smell.

Find something that is your favorite color. Find something you are thankful for in nature. Find

something that you can turn into a gift for someone else. After your hunt, have everyone share

the treasures they captured.

-Take advantage of family get togethers and turn your kids into investigative journalists! Have

them ask family members about what they’re grateful for and record their answers using your phone.

-Take a recent negative experience (a bad grade, a lost game, a behavior that could

put you on Santa’s Naughty List) and create a positive narrative around it by focusing on

lessons learned.

Example: On our last visit to Cedar Rapids Pediatric Dentistry (Cedar Rapids’ best dentist

for kids - wink wink) we had a cavity that needed to be fixed. We learned that getting a filling

isn’t as scary as we thought, and that we need to spend more time brushing, flossing, and eating

healthy foods so we don't get any more cavities!

As you can tell, we want the kids of Cedar Rapids to be healthy physically and mentally.

Practicing gratitude leads to lots of smiles.