Inspire your kids to be appreciative at Christmas?

December is that crazy time of the year where you are trying to cram in so much more into your already busy lives!

Do you ever feel that you are losing that ‘Christmas Spirit’ under the pressure of shopping, Will I get a park? There is so much traffic on the road!  Who to buy for?, ticking off the to do list …….
With our Kids writing their Christmas lists and focusing on what Santa will be bringing them, do you ever worry that your kids are so focused on what they want that they are losing the gift of giving?

Take a breath! I have the answer for you.

As promised  in my previous Post ‘Is Santa Real?‘ here are a couple inspiring ideas from my own Christmas Rituals that you can now enjoy with your kids and bring back appreciation at Christmas.
When we are about to tackle our final food shop before Christmas Day we get up early and set the intention of shopping with ease, grace and calm. (Remember to breath!) Setting a positive intention is always a great start to a positive outcome.

Once the shop is over, each of my children will choose a bunch of flowers to gift to a special person.

They then place their hands on their hearts and ask “May I be guided to the person who needs these most”

They then gift the person they are inspired to give the flowers to and wish them a wonderful day.
Without fail each person that receives this gift looks like they have won the lottery and on many occasions they have burst into tears of happiness.
I always get my children to then connect with how it makes them feel – “So awesome mum, it feels great to give, let’s do it again!”

“The gift of giving is just as precious as the gift of receiving and allowing”

Once we are home, my kids and I would  talk  about how lucky we are to have such an abundance of food in our lives and one year It got me thinking of how we could show our appreciation for all this abundance in our lives.
So, we visited the World Vision website where I asked my kids to choose a child in a third world country to donate a meal to for Christmas. They decided to take it a step further and pulled out their  pocket money and contributed this towards the meal.

This is an incredibly inspiring thing to watch your children do.

Make sure you ask them to get in touch with the feelings that come up for them when they are giving as this will re-wire their little brains to know that giving actually makes them feel as good, if not better than receiving and they will want to do it again.

Remember, it’s not what we give but how we give that is important here.

What is your intention when we choose to give? If you give with a feeling of obligation there is no fun or joy involved and the energy is low and restricted.

Instead, if you give with happiness and joy in your heart and full of gratitude for the opportunity to give, then magic happens. This attitude is an expansive energy that will just bring in so much joy and happiness to you. Watch the ripple effect.

When we give in the right spirit our energy is high and recharged and the more your children experience the gift of giving the more they will gravitate towards that.

Another wonderfully powerful Ritual to practice with your children is Gratitude. You can find out more about that topic in a previous post  ‘Gratitude finds you’

I would love to hear your thoughts, please leave me a COMMENT below

What Christmas Rituals do you perform with your children?