{"id":39555,"date":"2017-11-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/surprising-benefits-of-gratitude-among-children\/"},"modified":"2017-11-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-11-13T00:00:00","slug":"surprising-benefits-of-gratitude-among-children","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/surprising-benefits-of-gratitude-among-children\/","title":{"rendered":"The Surprising Benefits of Gratitude Among Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Making Grateful Kids<\/em>, Jeffey Froh shares how school psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Froh summarizes his team's research on the benefits of gratitude among adolescents:<\/p>\n\n

\n

We've found that grateful young adolescents (ages 11-13), compared to their less grateful counterparts, are happier; are more optimistic; have better social support from friends and family; are more satisfied with their school, family, community, friends, and themselves; and give more emotional support to others. They're also physically healthier and report fewer physical symptoms such as headaches, stomachaches, and runny noses. We've also found that grateful teens (ages 14-19), compared to less grateful teens, are more satisfied with their lives, use their strengths to better their community, are more engaged in their schoolwork and hobbies, have higher grades, and are less envious, depressed, and materialistic.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[410],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3454,3569,3683,3805,3856,4092,4107,4117,4128,4633,4743,5086,5144,5147,5313],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-39555","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-attitude","tax_ctp_tags-children","tax_ctp_tags-contentment","tax_ctp_tags-dissatisfaction","tax_ctp_tags-emotions","tax_ctp_tags-gratitude","tax_ctp_tags-grumbling","tax_ctp_tags-happiness","tax_ctp_tags-health","tax_ctp_tags-perspective","tax_ctp_tags-psychology","tax_ctp_tags-stress","tax_ctp_tags-thankfulness","tax_ctp_tags-thanksgiving-day","tax_ctp_tags-young-people"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nThe Surprising Benefits of Gratitude Among Children - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/surprising-benefits-of-gratitude-among-children\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Surprising Benefits of Gratitude Among Children - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Making Grateful Kids, Jeffey Froh shares how school psychologist Dr. Jeffrey Froh summarizes his team's research on the benefits of gratitude among adolescents: We've found that grateful young adolescents (ages 11-13), compared to their less grateful counterparts, are happier; are more optimistic; have better social support from friends and family; are more satisfied with Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/surprising-benefits-of-gratitude-among-children\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/surprising-benefits-of-gratitude-among-children\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/surprising-benefits-of-gratitude-among-children\/\",\"name\":\"The Surprising Benefits of Gratitude Among Children - 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