Parenting is the most important job in the world, and it's also one of the toughest. We all find ourselves juggling family time, household chores, helping kids with homework and class projects, getting kids back and forth to extracurricular activities, time with our spouses or significant others, extended family issues, aging parents, and the list goes on. With all that going on, many of our important but less urgent needs are ignored because they seem more like "nice things to do" rather than "essential things to do."

Thankfulness is often one of those things that gets swept aside in our busy lives because it seems less urgent. But expressing thankfulness is much more than just a nice, socially-appropriate thing to do:

• Taking time to feel and express thankfulness is a great stress reducer.
• Focusing on things that go well in your life can help the problematic things seem less overwhelming.
• Even reflecting on negative experiences with gratitude can be helpful too, as Laureen Miles Brunelli discusses in Teaching Thankfulness. Thinking about bad experiences, versus potentially worse experience that could have happened, helps us cope with stressful situations from a stronger perspective.

Keeping a spirit of thankfulness is a positive habit that we can develop with practice. Terri Mauro has some good ideas to foster thankfulness. Thankfulness can be a powerful way to regain a feeling of control in our lives despite whatever difficulty we face as Jennifer Wolf discusses in Practicing Gratitude: A Tool for Thriving Single Parents. Katherine Lewis can even find reason for gratitude in being a working mom on Monday morning!

Thankfulness is an important value and coping skill we should teach our children. One important way to demonstrate thankfulness for our children is to show teachers appreciation for things they do well. Denise Witmer offers good ideas to model thankfulness for our kids and teach them the importance of appreciating what we have.