I was enamored with an article by Pat Burson in the September 17th issue of Newsday entitled "Raising Grateful Children" based on an interview with Jeffrey Froh, PsyD, who is Assistant Professor of School-Community Psychology at Hofstra University. Froh's research focuses on the development of gratitude in children and adolescents, and in the article he offers suggestions for ways that parents can help model and cultivate an attitude of gratefulness in their children.
For example, parents can make sure to express gratitude for the things and people in their lives ("I'm so thankful that I have such loving people in my life"). They can also make it a point to acknowledge their children's expression of gratitude ("That was very nice of you to thank your sister for sharing").
And Froh practices what he preaches – he has been helping his 10-month-old son write thank you notes and keep a gratitude journal since his son was 3 months old :)
I wanted to find out more about Froh's work, so I took a look at his website. In his research, he has found that cultivating gratitude in one's life leads to many positive things including goal striving and achievement motivation. It can also buffer against materialism and foster intrinsic goal pursuit (pursuit of goals for personal satisfaction rather than external reward). People with intrinsic goals report higher levels of well-being than those with external, materialistic goals.
As an applied developmental psychologist, I was happy to see the mainstream media promoting positive parenting practices. It's nice to read about what parents can do to raise happy, healthy children. It's also great to see researchers like Froh advancing the field of positive psychology – an area from which we can all benefit.
I was enamored with an article by Pat Burson in the September 17th issue of Newsday entitled "Raising Grateful Children" based on an interview with Jeffrey Froh, PsyD, who is Assistant Professor of School-Community Psychology at Hofstra University. Froh's research focuses on the development of gratitude in children and adolescents, and in the article he offers suggestions for ways that parents can help model and cultivate an attitude of gratefulness in their children.
For example, parents can make sure to express gratitude for the things and people in their lives ("I'm so thankful that I have such loving people in my life"). They can also make it a point to acknowledge their children's expression of gratitude ("That was very nice of you to thank your sister for sharing").
And Froh practices what he preaches – he has been helping his 10-month-old son write thank you notes and keep a gratitude journal since his son was 3 months old :)
I wanted to find out more about Froh's work, so I took a look at his website. In his research, he has found that cultivating gratitude in one's life leads to many positive things including goal striving and achievement motivation. It can also buffer against materialism and foster intrinsic goal pursuit (pursuit of goals for personal satisfaction rather than external reward). People with intrinsic goals report higher levels of well-being than those with external, materialistic goals.
As an applied developmental psychologist, I was happy to see the mainstream media promoting positive parenting practices. It's nice to read about what parents can do to raise happy, healthy children. It's also great to see researchers like Froh advancing the field of positive psychology – an area from which we can all benefit.