Talk about Saying Thanks

Thanksgiving week is both the best and worst of times to try to teach kids about gratitude. It’s easy for all of us to tune out the message to “be thankful” when we hear it from every corner, even the secular ones urging us to buy more stuff and root for our favorite teams.

But the conversation is still worth having, especially if you can break through the “Thanksgiving noise” in a creative way. We’re pulling our talking points this week from the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers in Luke 17:11-19. Yes, it’s a familiar account—but it’s also a shocking one.

Would we say thanks for being spontaneously healed of a terminal disease? We’d like to think so. But do we express a lack of gratitude about other good gifts that might be just as shocking to God—or to people in cultures where those good gifts are hard to come by?

Something else to think about if you can provoke your child into a good discussion about thanks: Have we confused politeness with a true sense of gratitude to God? Do our kids equate giving thanks with saying “excuse me” after they burp? Is it just an act of civility or a real reflection of the heart?

We hope a few of the following questions will help you to dig into these ideas with your kids.

Talking Points

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