A fellow mom and I commiserated while volunteering at a school event. Her daughter had just ‘asked’ for a ride in the way a teenager can – with an air of entitlement and self-centerdness. My friend lamented to me, “All I need is a little gratitude and I’m good for the next six hours. Would a ‘thank you’ be too much to ask?”

Parents would admit that they don’t do what they do to earn appreciation from their children. Nonetheless it is easier to jump through hoops when gratitude is the reward. Appreciation is like fuel for the giving machine. And unlike real fuel, appreciation is free! It costs nothing to say thank you. So why don’t we do more of it?

It’s easy to become desensitized to the gifts we receive, especially if they appear repeatedly. When acts of kindness and love become expectations, appreciation fades away.  Gratitude naturally raises our vibrational energy. We feel better – more content, more abundant, more generous – when we employ gratitude. And our actions follow suit.

I politely turned a deaf ear to my friend’s parenting session. But I did catch her concluding remark as her daughter walked away. “There it is. A ‘thank you.’ Now I’m good for another six hours.”

Questions and Actions:

• How could you be more appreciative to those who help you?
• What/who do you take for granted that could use some attention?
• What is the smallest, most under-appreciated thing you could be grateful for?
• Have you said ‘thank you’ to a child lately?