Parenting Tips
By Myrna B. Shure, Ph.D
For the WHYY Children's Service

A Time for Thanks, and for Giving

Thanksgiving. A wonderful time for families to do things together, reflect, and think about others. Here's how to help your children participate fully in these meaningful activities.

• Ask your children to share what they are thankful for. Let them initiate their own thoughts. You can share what you are thankful for, too. This is a good opportunity to focus on the positive things in your lives, and in theirs.
• Ask your children what they know about the meaning of Thanksgiving. Talk about what they have that the Indians and Pilgrims, for example, didn't have a long time ago. This can open up wonderful conversations about how they feel about their lives.
• Take your children with you when you shop for the big dinner. Let them pick out something to add this year.
• Invite them to help you prepare the food. Even very young children can help prepare one thing - maybe stir the sauce, measure the salt or pour cookie batter into a cookie cutter. Give young children sprinkles to create their own designs on the cookies. Even a very picky eater may become interested in a meal he helped prepare.
• If you feel like inviting someone who has no place to go - maybe someone who's away from home, someone who has no relatives nearby or someone from another country - let your child create an invitation, with a drawing, a picture of your family or a poem. If possible, take your child with you to deliver the invitation.

What a great time this is for your kids to think about what they do have, instead of what they do not. And for us to think about that too.