Vitamin ‘G’ Is All About Gratitude- By Michelle Arscott
Vitamin G: ‘Gratitude’ – How Can You Boost Your Family’s Dosage? – Written By Michelle Arscott
Parents around the world, generally, encourage their children to say ‘please’ and ‘thank-you,’ as a sign of good manners and appreciation. However, how can you ensure that your children are really appreciative and grateful, beyond just remembering to say the words?
This article will briefly consider some of the many benefits of being grateful and appreciative and describe 6 gratitude activities that can be done easily in the home to help boost the important vitamin G, Gratitude.
What Are the Benefits of Vitamin G?
According to Robert Emmons, a prominent gratitude researcher, Vitamin G can boost you and your family’s level of happiness and reduce depression. It can also improve physical health. A 2012 study written in Personality and Individual Differences, found that people who practise gratitude regularly, feel less pain and feel physically fitter, compared to the placebo group in the study. Sleep quality and duration can also be positively impacted, (Applied Psychology: Health and Wellbeing, 2011). Vitamin G can boost you and your family’s general positivity, which then has a ripple effect into so many other areas of you and your family’s lives.
6 Ways to Increase Your Family’s Dosage of Vitamin G in Your Everyday Life
1. Gratitude jars are one of the most popular and well-known ways of creating family gratitude and it is such an easy and simple way to develop the gratitude habit. Have a gratitude jar or box, and daily, each family member writes or draws something they are grateful for and posts it in the jar or box. The family regularly come together to read and share what has made everyone feel ‘warm and fuzzy.’ This is a great way to increase serotonin, the happy hormone levels in the house and to really appreciate daily life. It is an easy and effective activity that encourages children to see the world through appreciative eyes.
2. Getting children to write thank-you notes to anyone who contributes to their lives, is a great way for your children to express gratitude and a way to make them more aware of the things that people do for them. This activity gets children to think of who they can thank and why they need to thank them. The thank-you note is even more special if it is handwritten or drawn by your child, as it adds that personal touch. However, to maybe entice older children, if appropriate, it could also be a gratitude email a WhatsApp message, or simply typed.
3. Children having regular responsibilities in the house has so many advantages. Looking at the benefits through a gratitude and appreciation perspective, it allows children to begin to further understand some of the effort and ‘work’ involved in getting things done in and around the house, so further increasing their understanding and perspective of what people do for them.
4. Gratitude journals are another popular way of expressing daily gratitude. To add a 21st-century spin to make it more interesting to older children and for those who favour technology, it could be a gratitude blog, a vlog or an audio recording, very much appealing to teens and tweens and getting them to focus on Vitamin G.
5. For those who favour art, children could individually create a gratitude collage, or it could be developed into a fun activity for the whole family. A great bonding opportunity as you cut out pictures, stick photos on the paper and revel in what makes life good and a great reminder of what to be thankful for!
6. For the active children, gratitude walks are a nice physical way to practice gratitude. Simply going for a walk and focusing on the sights, sounds and smells that are discovered on the way. A great way to home in on the big and little things in the environment that can often be taken for granted and overlooked.
There is so much to be grateful and appreciative of in life.
How are you going to increase you and your family’s vitamin G dosage?
Michelle Arscott – The International Adult & Kids Life Coach
BSc (Econ) Psychology & Sociology
PGCE Education
ILM certified Coach
Kids Life Studio Certified Coach