Making Gratitude Visible

A November Family Project

By Kodi Ogle, Tennessee H&V

It is finally the time of the year that provides a wonderful opportunity to sit back, relax, and reflect. As I do this, I think about all the times that our family has spent together. We typically spend the entire month of November practicing Random Acts of Kindness and reciting what we’re grateful for each day.

On November 1st, we start the month off by hanging up a canvas with a tree trunk and a few bare branches on it in our dining room. Each day, each of my three children will write what they are thankful for in place of leaves. We spend dinner time discussing what we wrote for that day.

This activity transforms our thoughts into ones of gratitude. Our children become so excited to be able to write something new on the canvas that they leave the house each morning intentionally looking for something new to notice or someone for whom to give thanks. When they get home, they run to write their newest “find” on the canvas. During dinner, they tell us about their entire day and how they came to the topic of their gratitude for that day. This activity helps to build vocabulary, their awareness of themselves, the environment around them, emotions, builds bonds with the family, and fosters an attitude of gratitude.

You don’t need a canvas at home to do this activity. A plain sheet of paper will be just fine. In the beginning, when our kids were in their toddler years, we took a big section of wrapping paper, flipped it over to the side that’s blank, and allowed the kids to write on that. They could draw pictures. We cut pictures out of magazines and newspapers that matched what we saw or did that day. We then used dinner time as a time for the whole family to get together and share our love, happiness, and this daily activity with one another.

I am thankful for these children of mine!   ~

H&V Communicator – Winter 2021