We always come across a dozen of stuff that tells us what we need to teach our children, but many times it’s the other way around.

It might be their innocence or just that they are untouched by the world outside. Children, too, tend to give us some of the most striking lessons in life. And here is one such lesson of life my toddler taught me.

Mom, can you please pull him to your side? I am sleepy. “

I was sleepy, too, but my toddler was busy playing with his sister’s hair. I pulled him away from them, and he started blabbering something in his gibberish baby language.

 I was tired and didn’t pay much attention, but he wanted my attention and started saying it loudly. 

The covid outbreak

March 2020 was the year and month when the world stood at a standstill. Fear impacted every person. 

Apart from fear, we women faced the challenges of entertaining kids and helping them learn.

 With work from home becoming a new norm and online schooling, managing the kids became ten times harder. 

Making gratitude a part of our routine:

I was overwhelmed, just like so many other stay-at-home moms. That left me very negative I was burned out to the core. But I had to reconsider what I was doing when my daughter mimicked my behavior—whining about each and everything.

At that moment, I felt like I had failed as a mother. But I decided on the way to bring about thankfulness in our lives. 

Every day I made a routine before sleeping to List three things I was thankful for. I read my gratitude list aloud for the first few days, so my girls followed. In the first few weeks, they would come up with two or one thing on their list.

 But slowly, as the weeks passed, they started understanding the concept. Slowly they started being very mindful for the whole day to get three things they were thankful for so they could share them at night. Now my youngest four-year-old, too, started chipping in one thing she was grateful for. 

We continued this routine regularly for 9 to 10 months. All this while my one-year-old son sat looking at his sisters every night, going through their gratitude list. 

To be grateful for everything:

And this night, when I heard my son carefully, he said I am thankful for DIDI’S. He was trying to say it loudly so he could grab my attention. And this simple, innocent action of my child gave me the biggest life lesson. 

My son taught me the biggest lesson of life that day: to be grateful for everything, not just the good things but even the mundane things.

He taught me to be grateful every day for the presence of my children in my life. 

Being a mother is a challenge. It drains you out. There are days I wish I could just run away.

But it is these innocent moments that make this journey of motherhood extraordinary.