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From the Publisher – November 2024

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_From the Publisher- AOP oct 2024 (1)

What are you thankful for this year? Family, friendships, happiness, and health? November is a time to pause and reflect on all that is to be appreciated. Each year, as we gather around the Thanksgiving table, it is tradition to express thankfulness as we sit among our friends and family. Our family traditionally travels to be together around someone’s farmhouse table, where, as we pass the sweet potato casserole, turkey, and cranberry sauce, each person shares something they are most thankful for. Whether there is gratitude for a finished school project and final exam scores, a job promotion and pay raise, or a long-awaited ‘all clear’ health report, there is so much to be thankful for.

While celebrating the closing of another year together, I reflect on how blessed I am to have a beautiful and healthy family. Countless milestones and achievements, continued health, and all the fun adventures throughout the year that were banked as core memories and filled with love and laughter make me grateful beyond measure. For me, just being called their mom and getting to go along for the ride to see their accomplishments is my greatest joy and appreciation of life. It comes with so many rewards, yet great responsibility. Guiding and teaching my children throughout the years is a responsibility I don’t take lightly.

Each November, I am reminded of how important it is to not only be thankful, but to also teach my family about giving back to others and to always be grateful for everything. Showing gratitude doesn’t always come easily for some and needs to be taught within the home. In the teaching, a great lesson is that when we give of ourselves, good always comes back to us, too.  In our feature article, 10 Science Backed Benefits of Practicing Gratitude for Kids, the author suggests various benefits that come from being thankful. For example, children who find ways to give to others will be happier overall, and they are also more likely to feel less stressed. In thinking about this, I can see the connection between being grateful for your life and, therefore, being more generous to others, and it can make you feel less stressed and more kind.

The author also suggests teaching your children ways to not only give to others but to feel thankfulness and gratitude. One way is by starting a journal. Listing areas in life where you can find gratitude and then also brainstorming ways to share with others is a teaching tool to create a grateful heart and a love for others through service. To help get you started, the author has some creative journaling ideas that just might spark an interest in your home. With many things going high-tech, so can the art of journaling. Maybe suggest starting a thankfulness blog or even an online video journal that can be updated monthly to reflect ways in which they gave back to others. It’s a perfect way to plan for a new year of being thankful and to set a goal of giving back.

This Thanksgiving, with family and friends gathered around the table, take a moment to reflect. Find the gifts you have been blessed with, appreciate those around you, and reach out to others. Remember everything that there is to be grateful for and maybe plan ways to pay it forward. From one parent to another, Happy Thanksgiving!

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From the Publisher – November 2024

by Kendra Sumner time to read: 2 min