Words of thanks

I admit it.  I am guilty.  The minute we packed away the Halloween costumes, I started thinking about Christmas.  I started thinking about travel logistics and family plans, creating family photo cards, starting my gift list, and thinking about how to get the best deals.  In my defense, like a good Boy Scout, or in my case, Girl Scout, it is best to be prepared.  However, with Santa already at the mall, Christmas music playing in every store, and Christmas catalogs being delivered to your door regularly, how do we keep our children from getting caught-up in the holiday gimmes?

At PCC, we strive to keep the focus on the present as the holidays can become very exciting and over stimulating for our little preschoolers.  We celebrate each holiday as they come, but aim to avoid much fanfare.  There does happen to be a holiday before Christmas and Hanukah (although at the same time as Hanukah this year) that deserves some attention, Thanksgiving.  So before we get too caught up in the season of giving, which for many children is the season of getting, let us try to pause briefly and join in the season of thanks. 

For the month of November, in my home we have been saying a thank you every night before bed.  Your children might enjoy making thank you cards to give out to special people in their lives, for example: Dear Grandma, Thank you for reading stories to me.  My dad was visiting the Smithsonian wearing a veteran’s hat and was approached by a young girl and her mother.  The young girl handed him a homemade card and simply said thank you.  Words cannot describe the joy that this thoughtful action brought to my dad.  Another thought is to have family thank you jars.  Each family member has an assigned jar.  All month long everyone in the family can write down thank you notes on bits of paper to each other and put them in the jars.  On Thanksgiving, each person can open his or her jar and read all of the thank you notes (ie. Thank you for making my lunch, Mom or Thank you Joey for cleaning your room).

Even after Thanksgiving, you can continue encouraging thinking of others by participating in Giving Tuesday, a national movement to have a day of giving back.  This year Giving Tuesday falls on December 3rd.  Visit www.givingtuesday.org for more information on what Giving Tuesday is all about and how you and your family can become a part of it.  Ideas are as simple as setting aside the day for you and your child to go through clothes that no longer fit, pack them up together, and drive them to the nearest donation spot.

Good luck keeping your little ones grounded this time of year and thank you for reading.