Dear Parents,
It's hard to believe it is December! From the busy days of back-to-school, to Halloween, to Thanksgiving, here we are in the thick of the holiday season. It is a time when our water-colored memories and expectations meet the realities of over-scheduling and task lists. Many reasons to stress!
Our wish for you is that you give yourselves permission to recognize the pressures and concentrate on which traditions are important to you. Traditions are powerful for a family. For one thing, they bring families closer together and connect generations. By nature, traditions take time and commitment. This time together helps us make new memories while also remembering the past. Traditions can remind us to slow down the busy cycle of life so families can reconnect and build bonds. Please give yourself the gift of time during this holiday season to reflect and ponder on what is important to you.
At the Children's Center we are thankful for the community, our traditions and the spirit of love and joy that surrounds us everyday. Please have a wonderful holiday and may your Christmas realities become treasured memories!
Much Love, Heidi Bliss and Dee Gray, Co-Directors
Helping a Child be Thankful and Appreciative
Parents have the best intentions of raising a thankful child. They use the social graces of saying "please" and "thank you" as a monitor for raising a "good" child while encouraging manners and modeling appropriate behaviors. However, is learning to say thank you the same as being thankful? Is gratitude sincere or the satisfaction of a social grace? As we compare manners vs. morals, the first can be achieved by learning scripts, the second can be learned through experience. We can help our children with that experience by modeling genuine gratitude and appreciation. Counting blessings can breed optimism, and highlighting relationships supports a sense of belonging. Being thankful for gifts is appropriate, but being thankful for the person who gave the gift is indeed meaningful.
Thank you to the many who participated in the "PJ and Lovey" Drive this season, your generosity is treasured, as are you. The 200 children from Head Start won't know you, but they will feel warmth.
