Teaching a child gratitude - when/how to begin

[Earlybird]

I've been giving some thought recently into how to begin to make dd aware of being thankful for what she has.

Last week, as we sat surrounded by the 20 (or so) gifts she received at her 5th birthday party, it occured to me (again) how fortunate we are - and how dd doesn't yet have any sense of just how fortunate she is. Of course, she knows to say "thank you" etc, but I'm talking about gratitude - not good manners. Our basic needs are covered, and we are blessed to also have many of life's luxuries.

When can the concept of being thankful/grateful for what you have be introduced to a child? How can it be done, and once introduced, how to reinforce?

Well my DD does a shoebox every Christmas and also has donated lots of toys to charity. (albeit under my persuasal!). She just had her 5th Party a few weeks ago and we still have unopened boxes behind the settee.
Some people gave her money though and she spent it at the weekend on a MY Little Pony set which she's wanted for ages. She then understood brilliantly that she didn't have enough to get a book too so she kept the change for sweets.
I felt that was an invaluable lesson for her too.

I think all these little things gradually teach them

Sorry, meant to add that she chats away when she does the shoebox about how this might be the only present some children get and seems to understand about less fortunate children.

My dd seems to have grasped this all on her own

She says things lie

I am a very lucky girl to have so many animals aren't I, some children dont' have any? (she means her cuddly toys)

or, this morning in fact

I love my mummy and daddy, some children don't have a mummy and daddy do they, I am very lucky

Not sure where she got that from

We started with my dd when she was about 3 - she asked about why I had taken one of daddy's old jumpers to give to the Big Issue seller. I just explained to her that some people aren't as lucky as we are, that X didn't have a home or any money to buy nice clothes, and that there are a lot of people who don't have the things that we do. We had a similar chat about charity shops as well, when she was helping me to fill a bag for the local children's hospice.

More recentlym when I was sending for the Oxfam goats we bought for Christmas, I showed her some of the pictures on the website and told her a little about what was going on. She's nearly 5 and definitely took in some of what I was saying.