Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Thank You Notes

When was the last time you received a thank you letter?

Please note I did say letter... as in a physical piece of paper that came to your mailbox. Not an email, not a Facebook status or message and certainly not a text.

Are you stumped? If you can't remember you are certainly not alone.

Thank you letters have sadly made it to the list of things that people just don't do very often. With endless options available for communication we usually pass the old fashion methods up and take advantage of modern technology.

And just to clarify where I fall with the above mentioned conveniences...
I would like to confess that I am so guilty.

Recently I have became more aware of my neglect. Neglect in my life that I was consciously or unconsciously passing onto my kids. After all there is truth in saying "If I don't teach my kids, who will?" Do I really want my kids learning to say thanks through sending a text message or even worse not saying thank you at all?  I do think that modern conveniences can have their time and place, but at some point I need to draw a line. 


Last week one of our big back to school projects was to learn to write thank you notes. Christmas was over, there was so much to be thankful for, it was the perfect opportunity.

Thank you notes for a 6 year old look a bit different than thank you notes from a 3 year old. Marissa worked hard on writing proper letters where Emily colored pictures and COVERED them with stickers. But the one thing they had in common was they were both very proud of the work that they had put into their cards and they were both so excited to share them with those they had made them for. 


Skills were taught and thankful hearts were encouraged.

It's the little things.

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15 comments:

  1. Good job Mommy!!! That is such an important lesson to teach your girls!

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  2. Reminds me I need to write a couple. Your girls are cute!

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  3. Handwritten letters are so scarce these days, so I love that you're teaching your girls about thank you notes. Definitely something I will be passing on to my daughter too.

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  4. I love all things mail! Snail mail. I am terrible at thank you notes but I try to send lots of others! And right if you aren't showing your kids how will they learn it. So cute that they were proud of their cards.

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  5. So important! This reminds me I need to get some out from Christmas and get ideas for what H will do for his upcoming birthday thank yous!

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  6. We do thank you notes here, too. I write {obviously} & Cash colors the card. My parents had my sister & I write thank you notes growing up & now it's just like second nature for us.

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  7. I freaking love sending TY cards and have turned the task into a fun activity by decorating the envelopes and using special lettering. I am definitely teaching my daughters this forgotten social grace.
    Whitney

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    1. That sounds fabulous. I envy people who can write beautifully. It would be such a handy skill to have.

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  8. Thank You notes are so a top priority in this house. Hand-written thank you notes. I even refuse to use typed labels for the addresses. I get this quality from my mom. I remember after my birthday party in the 1st grade, she made me sit and write thank you notes. I hated it. I learned from it though. Lily already scribbles her own notes. It's never too early.

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  9. I love this! Just shared it on my Facebook page~ My mom would never let us play with our new things until we had written a thank you note - We learned SUCH a valuable lesson from this!

    Elizabeth
    www.allkindsofthingsblog.com

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  10. What a great lesson for your girls! And also those photos are kick ass!!

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  11. We spent yesterday writing them out too! I slack usually, but Christmas, birthday, and showers always get them!

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  12. AMEN! Thank you notes (of the handwritten variety) are incredibly important in our house. Marcus is a little too young to write his own, but once he's able this value will be instilled in him, too!

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  13. So good Beth! My grandma still handwrites me letters and mails them. I LOVE this. Such a lost Art.

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