The Thank You Game

For FHE this week our topic was murmuring. This was no coincidence! Mom is getting very tired of all the whining and complaining at our house! We talked about Laman and Lemuel, then we read a story from the Friend about a boy who changes chores with his Mom for a day after complaining about his own chores. (Do you see the genius of my plan here?!) Finally, after teaching the children what complaining is and reading all about it, we talked about the complaining going on at our house. Then we needed a solution! How do you stop complaining (besides the obvious use of duct tape)? Well, we read a story from the Friend called the Thank You Game. Every time the girl in the story wanted to complain about something, her Mom told her to think of something she was thankful for because there is no complaining allowed when you're playing the Thank You Game. We decided, then and there, to play the Thank You Game ourselves. So for our fabulous activity the kids got to clean up the play room! Instead of the usual tears and whining, the kids were heard saying things like, "I'm thankful for my cars," and "I'm thankful that we have so many toys!"

So far this little game is semi-effective. It will take practice to fully implement it into our lives. I have realized that I am part of the game as much as the kids are! You may find me muttering to myself, "I'm thankful for my children," or "what a blessing it is to have so many dishes," and "wow, I'm so thankful that I'm pregnant!"

Game on.