It's Thanksgiving this week, so of course that means families gathered around the table will be required to name something they're grateful for. For many families, it's a time-honored tradition. And for many children it's a dreaded moment during an otherwise festive time.
Maybe this year, parents and adults can allow children to feel ungrateful, Jessica Borelli, associate professor or psychology and social behavior, writes in the Huffington Post. After all, "emotions don't obey our whims," Borelli writes.
And instead of forcing gratitude, parents can try to cultivate it in other ways by talking, for instance, about personal experiences of gratitude and what they're grateful for about their children. "We can also wonder with them whether there are things for which they feel grateful this year, all the while allowing the possibility that there aren’t, or that they can’t find those feelings on Turkey Day," Borelli writes.
Read the blog post here.