(Unrelated photo: An apple a day...)
Hello December!
I hope living more simply in a consumerist society without over-abundance in everyday life will teach gratitude to our children. Listening to this snippet of conversation on the walk to school this morning reminded me of how less is almost always more:
Little Girl: I opened my first door on my advent calendar this morning and I had a chocolate!
Little Boy: So? I get chocolate everyday!
This made me feel sad. As parents, sometimes it can pay to hold back a little, that for a treat to remain special it needs not to happen everyday, for something to be a highlight, there needs to be lowlights too, otherwise children can be in danger of losing gratitude and appreciation in daily life. My mother-in-law likes to talk about the 'Appreciation Fairy' when she needs to remind the children to say 'thank you'. It seems such a important lesson for children to learn and accept, that they cannot have everything they want, but to realise they have everything they need.
