Happy Thanksgiving! – even if it is the forgotten holiday. Oh, yikes! Squished between Halloween and Christmas, Thanksgiving seems to barely make it into the Holiday rotation. The shelves at the store go directly from Halloween costumes to Christmas décor. And when we do stop to mention it, the talk is all about the turkey.
Not to mention, lately, the way Thanksgiving is being taught in schools is even shifting and changing. Which leads to the question…
Should we still teach about Thanksgiving?
Absolutely! In fact, there are 5 compelling reasons why we should all stop and not only celebrate Thanksgiving authentically, but promote it and applaud it, too. Thanksgiving is a vital holiday for families to celebrate and here’s why:
1. Thankful people are happy people
Thanksgiving should be first and foremost about, well, giving thanks.
There’s actually been more research than you might imagine into the field of gratitude. The overwhelming consensus is that thankful people have more positive emotions, are more content with life, and tend to focus on the positive. This attitude of gratitude in return leads to less anxiety and depression throughout life as well as other positive emotional and physical benefits.
Heather Craig summarizes the work of Wood and colleagues as defining thankfulness in this way: it’s “a worldview whereby feelings of gratitude stem from noticing and appreciating the positive things in life.”
But long before psychologists and scientists noticed the benefits of being thankful, God commanded it of his people. He knows what’s good for us, right? Large chunks of the Bible are dedicated to thanksgiving. A lifestyle of appreciation and gratitude are par for the course for those seeking the ways of God.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 107:1
2. Giving thanks is a learned skill
Being raised in a Christian home, I was taught to be thankful from a very early age. Maybe you were, too! We counted our blessings and spoke them out loud in our daily prayers as a matter of course.
This is good and this is right.
Are you doing this with your kids every single day, too? God wants us to be grateful. It is something I work hard to teach my own children. Humble recognition of one’s blessings is the best way to counteract the culture of entitlement that poisons our culture today. It can be as simple as having your kids say what they’re thankful for every night before bedtime prayers.
Everything we have and hold dear has been given to us. We deserve nothing and therefore deeply appreciate our blessings from God’s hand with extreme gratitude. We want to teach our kids to give thanks daily for God’s abundant love, protection, and care.
3. The Thanksgiving story is an important piece of our history
The older I become, the more I value and appreciate history! Lately, history seems to be being rewritten, attacked, or simply ignored.
In fact, just last year, one of my best selling products, Thanksgiving Lesson Plans for Pre-K, was pulled from the TPT shelf by the company because they didn’t like the way the lesson plans taught the Pilgrims and Indians story. In their woke philosophy, this history lesson was taboo! Thankfully, when new ownership acquired the company, the product was reinstated and is now back and available for purchase. Grab it before it gets pulled again!
I enjoyed this so much for my children! This was a great resource! Thank You!
– Corrin C. on TPT
Teaching this inspirational story to your children is so important and it can be done in a way that is accurate, respectful, and fun! As a child, I remember studying about The First Thanksgiving with a sense of awe and feeling a deep connection to the story. It has long intrigued me and given me a sense of roots and American pride.
The classic story is surely over-simplified to tell children, but it paints a positive image of both European immigrants and Native Americans. There are inspiring messages about sharing, community, survival, bravery, and yes, gratitude. Not to mention – the peace treaty between the two nations stayed in effect for over 50 years! Their actions made an incredible impact on the early history of America.
Giving our children roots in the past is such an important gift.
4. Thanksgiving means family time
One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is the way it brings families together. More than any other holiday, Thanksgiving is a chance to spend time with extended family! And, your family has a unique and special history all your own. Have you shared it with your kids? Do they know who their ancestors were and where they originated from?
Sharing your family’s history and roots with your kids is fun! There’s no time like the holidays to drag out all the old family stories. Break out the photo albums and start a family tree! Share with your kids some of the stories of their ancestors and countries of origin. Maybe get your school-age kids to interview their grandparents or Old Aunt Lucinda. Hearing stories from days gone by is an engaging way to learn about the past and appreciate what we have today.
There are also so many fun ways to get your kids involved in the Thanksgiving preparations! From meal planning to cooking to holiday décor making, kids will love being involved. And if you ask them, they’ll have all sorts of opinions about how to make the holiday fun and what foods to serve at the table.
Besides all the food, there will be time to play games, watch football, or just hang out together as a family, too. As you practice gratitude together as a family, think of ways that you can spend quality time together as an extended family.
5. Thanksgiving is a time to share our blessings
The Thanksgiving holiday reminds us each year that we are truly a blessed people. In fact, we are downright spoiled. Never before in history have a people enjoyed such peace, prosperity, and luxury. God has given us so much abundance – and so we have a responsibility to give it back to him by blessings others.
Besides being a special holiday to spend with family, Thanksgiving is an opportunity to teach your kids to bless others. Encourage your children to be mindful of the needy, for example. Can they donate food, clothing, or toys to needy families or a shelter? Teach them to look around in kindness to those with whom they can share their blessings – just as the Native Americans blessed the Pilgrims.
Just imagine how the Thanksgiving story would have been different if Squanto hadn’t helped the new settlers, or if the Pilgrims hadn’t invited the Wampanoag to their feast. Peacemaking often begins with kindness and sharing our blessings.
Thanksgiving is a great time to also teach about how we can show kindness and share blessings with those who may not look like us or even speak the same language. The Europeans and Native Americans had vastly different cultures, languages, and even skin color. But they generously shared their resources, and we can, too!
Giving thanks is a mindset
Thanksgiving is a daily mindset, of course, not just a once-a-year holiday. It starts with leading our children in daily prayers of thanksgiving from the time they are small. But, I am so thankful for the wisdom of our past leaders who humbly recognized our need to give thanks and instituted it as a national holiday, too! How awesome that we have a whole holiday set aside for families to give thanks to the Creator!
Life is good.
It may not always seem good. It’s certainly not always easy or fun. But there is always something to be thankful for!
This Thanksgiving, take a few minutes to instill the value of gratitude in your kids, a sense of roots, and the obligation to share God’s goodness with others.