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

Be Really Thankful This Year

Thanksgiving is special every year for most of us. This year, it can be extra special for all of us.

Can the events in the world help us see how fortunate we are to be free, to have food on our table, and our families together?

Can we appreciate how we are all really one family now - more united than ever before? Can we put aside our differences and give special attention to our common goals - to stay free, keep food on the table and keep our families together?

Here are some ways you can help your children think about family, friends, country and their own lives in ways they'll appreciate more now because of - not in spite of events of 9/11 and other stresses in the world.

• At Thanksgiving dinner, let each child talk about how each person at the table is important to him and how that person makes him feel good.
• If you haven't already talked with your children about Afghanistan, ask them how they think people lived their daily lives before we went to war, and how things have changed for them now. Include questions about how women had to dress, and how girls couldn't go to school. Ask them what they know about how some people live now in Iraq, or other countries in the news, and how their lives differ from ours. You can enrich this conversation at the dinner table by getting on the Internet or going to the library and reading about these things together ahead of time.
• After your children express their thoughts and feelings, let them know what you care about too. Your kids will love that, and you might learn things about each other that you didn't know before.

Let's all think about what we have to be thankful for. One of the things we have is this day we call "Thanksgiving." What a wonderful time for us to think about how fortunate we really are.