While it is often common practice to share things we are grateful for at Thanksgiving, consider making mindful gratitude a daily practice in your home.  For example, when talking to your student in the morning before school or sitting down to dinner as a family, ask everyone to share something they experienced during their day for which they were grateful.  Encourage your child to keep a gratitude journal, send notes (or emails) of gratitude to teachers, coaches, family members, or friends, or make gratitude jars for each member of the family.  It can be a fun family activity to decorate "gratitude" jars and fill them up by adding one thing you are grateful for everyday to your jar.  Choose a special night, like New Year's Eve, to look back at your grateful year!  If you need help getting started, consider the following prompts:

• Sounds (that I am grateful for)
• Tastes (that I am grateful for)
• Smells 
• Red (or any color) things 
• Animals 
• Places
• Things in my bedroom (that I am grateful for)
• Things in my home 
• A friend or friends (that I am grateful for)
• Family members 
• Coaches
• Teachers 
• Neighbors

To practice gratitude as a family, print this 30 days of Gratitude Journal.

If you’re thinking about suicide, are worried about a friend or loved one, or would like emotional support, the Lifeline network is available 24/7 across the United States.

Crisis hotlines and resources