Teaching gratitude to children isn’t always easy, but a necessary thing for them to learn to be productive, respectful adults. Mary O’Donohue’s book, When You Say “Thank You,” Mean It, gives parents and caregivers the tools they need to teach their children to be grateful, say it, and genuinely mean it. With such great ideas as making a gratitude board, creating respect tiles, and making a compassion in action calendar, this book opens a dialogue with adults and children about why everyone should take time to be thankful and to help those who have less to be thankful about than ourselves.
Mary’s writing in this book is superb . . . informative and filled with experience, but not preachy. Her system of teaching gratitude and compassion is easy to understand, follow, and put into practice. My children and I loved doing the exercises and they really learned a lot about why they should be thankful.
You can find more information about When You Say “Thank You”, Mean It on O’Donohue’s website, www.maryodonohue.com. You can purchase this book on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders.
Thank you to Adams Media for providing a complimentary review copy of this book for us to base this article upon.