"Octomom" Reveals The One Trick She Uses To Teach Her Kids Gratefulness During The Holidays

Celebrity

"Octomom" Reveals The One Trick She Uses To Teach Her Kids Gratefulness During The Holidays

Every family has their own Christmastime traditions, but for former reality star Octomon, whose real name is Nadya Suleman, there is one very important tradition she follows when it comes to giving her octuplets Chirstmas gifts.

The 42-year-old single mom rose to fame in 2009 after giving birth to octuplets. The controversial mother's story gained popularity when it was revealed that she was already mom to six other children, all the while being unemployed.

Polaris

For a while, she appeared everywhere, from tabloids, to newspapers, and television shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show. She later starred in a slew of adult movies, which she claimed she did to make ends meet.

Suleman eventually made the decision to step out of the spotlight to focus on raising her children to be productive and respectable members of society.

"There was definitely a catalyst "” my girls, particularly my oldest daughter Amerah. She was about 10, and she started integrating my traits and behaviors," she said. "After I had observed my daughter beginning to emulate me, I saw her going down that same potentially destructive path, and I realized at that moment I'd rather be homeless in my van with all 14 kids than continuing down this path. It was not what I wanted for my children."

Suleman, along with her brood, moved to Orange County, California for a new start about three years ago. She now works as a family therapy counselor, a job she is very passionate about.

She's setting some great examples for her kids, and recently opened up about how she teaches her children to be grateful during the holidays.

The mother of 14 explains that she's raising her children to be generous and selfless, and she puts even more emphasis on this during Christmastime.

"I'm focusing on raising the kids to focus on serving other people, to get out of their own head," Suleman tells Us Weekly. "Be grateful for one little thing that they get because they earned it. They're extraordinary kids. I'm so, so, so grateful."

Us Weekly

So what's a surefire way of ensuring her children don't take what they have for granted? Suleman says giving each child just one gift is key.

"We're on a budget and we're pretty much so grateful for every little thing," Suleman says, adding that she and the kids play the Grateful Game everyday. "We're minimalist, too. They're all minimalist and I am. The real me is a minimalist, so I believe that one gift that they really want, you know, they're incredibly grateful for that."

Among their Christmas traditions is picking out a tree from the farm together. This year, they visited a farm in Laguna Niguel, California, where the octuplets, Makai, Josiah, Isaiah, Jonah, Maliyah, Jeremiah, Nariyah and Noah, helped pick a tree and bring it home.

Us Weekly

Some of the siblings also dropped hints about what gifts they would like to buy for their mom. The list includes a coffee mug, a bracelet, a heart necklace, and a shirt that says, "I want coffee."

You can watch the family get into the spirit of the holidays in the video below:

Do you buy your children more than one gift?

Blair isn't a bestselling author, but she has a knack for beautiful prose. When she isn't writing for Shared, she enjoys listening to podcasts.