Asma Balfaqih
Faith in daily life
Gratitude is a practice, not a feeling
Be grateful, we say when a child is discontent. The sentence rarely helps, because gratitude is not a button you press.
What helps is a fixed question in the evening: what was good today? At first the answers are short. After a few weeks children talk about things I had overlooked myself.
Only when the good has been named does thanks gain content. Then a phrase turns into a sentence a child actually means.