By Krystle J Bailey
Welcome to my new weekly series, “Family Corner,” where you will find recommendations, experiences, and conversation topics for the whole family. When I first came to Shore Local in 2018, I began writing a women’s empowerment column inspired by my 2017 book, Nourish. From there, I wrote the Mom’s Vibe column for several years as I also began expanding into community happenings, the local arts scene, current events, and more. As my life has evolved, so have my contributions to this publication.
As we head into the holiday season, I look forward to bringing it back to the roots with a weekly column about my experiences as a parent in South Jersey. I am the mother of a thirteen-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy, who keep me young and inspired. Both my mother’s family and I were born and raised in the Atlantic County area, where I am now raising my children. I’ve seen this community grow in so many beautiful ways since my upbringing and couldn’t imagine a better place to raise a family.
As the holiday season approaches, I was already considering a column about ways to cultivate gratitude in our children as I was dropping my son off at choir practice when he said, “I can’t wait until Thanksgiving so I can say what I’m thankful for!”
Pump the breaks.
I’m a big fan of daily gratitude. I even keep a daily gratitude journal for myself and preach about it quite often on my personal social media pages. Now, I know I’ve talked to my kids about the importance of gratitude, and it’s a common theme in our home to make sure we are using manners and saying thank you to one another.
What I didn’t realize was that I hadn’t been teaching them something that I use for my personal journey every day, which is expressing gratitude for the things often under-celebrated – like air.
Why are we waiting until Thanksgiving to say what we are thankful for out loud to each other?
Here are five ideas I had to inspire a deeper attitude of gratitude right now:
- Lead by example. I tell my children often that I am thankful to be their mother, and I am usually met with an “I’m thankful to be your son” from the youngest and a pleasant shoulder shrug from the teenager, which I’ve come to understand means, “Me too.”
- Give. I admit I got busy the last couple of holiday seasons and haven’t slowed down to do some of the things we used to do together, like sponsoring a family or donating food. I’ve gotten too comfortable donating to online charities or sending money as a form of giving, not realizing that my children don’t see that part. This year, I am making an intentional effort to make time to remind them what it feels like to give back.
- Bus stop gratitude. We are used to talking about things we are thankful for at dinner or on holidays, but what about at the bus stop? One of the things I do when I am journaling is fill a page in my notebook with things I am thankful for as quickly as I can. The bus stop walk is a perfect opportunity for a minute of gratitude out loud in this same fashion.
- Dance it out. My kids and I get weird together, and our dance parties get weirder. In thinking of ways to instill gratitude, I wondered how I could tie it into something fun that we already do together, such as dancing. At the next dance party, we will be celebrating all the things we are thankful for in the moment.
- Bless and release. The holidays are a season of giving, receiving, and releasing. The pre-holiday purge of all the toys that no longer get shown love and clothes that are grown out of is a perpetual chore that they don’t warn you about in the books for expectant parents. This season, instead of hastily tossing the used things in a bag, we will be releasing what we no longer need with a heart of gratitude for the time we had with those possessions.
Happy gratitude season, Shore Local families.
May we carry the spirit of the season with us year-round. From one parent to another, please remember they’ll never be this young again. Enjoy every beautiful moment this holiday season. I look forward to connecting with you next week in the Family Corner.
Krystle J Bailey is a published author, multimedia journalist, copywriter, and content creator. She is a regular Shore Local columnist and digital contributor as well as the booking agent and co-host of the radio show Joe’s Table for Two on WOND. Krystle can be reached at KrystleJBailey@gmail.com
