Don’t Forget to Say “Thank You”

il_570xN_388019027_i15w“Thank you” is one of the first phrases my children learned to say. Sure, my daughter sometimes says “thank you” when she should be saying “I’m sorry,” but we’re working on it! Regardless of when your child(ren) first learned the phrase, “thank you” is something that should be engrained in our vocabulary. We all want our children to be thankful; whether for a special gift from a friend or loved one, a special trip on a fun occasion or for a family member coming to visit, we want them to be gracious and understand how blessed they are.

Unfortunately, sending thank you cards seems to be a lost art. Somehow, jotting down a sweet, short note to thank someone for the effort they have demonstrated has become too much work when we can just send them a quick email, tweet them a thank you in 140 characters or less or give them a shout-out on Facebook or Instagram. Sometimes, even those efforts can become too much in all of the hustle and bustle of our lives.

Therefore, when it comes to teaching this skill of showing gratitude to our own children, many of us have great intentions, yet we may not be doing as good a job as we’d hoped (at least, I don’t feel like I’m doing as good a job as I’d hoped I would in teaching my children lessons as valuable as this one). So, in an effort to become better at this task, I embarked on a mission to find fun and effective ways to make the thank you note-writing process fun for my kids – especially now that I have a child who is old enough to begin writing his own. Here are some great tips I plan to use; hopefully, you can find them useful with your children, as well!

  1. Explain it. Explain to your children what you are doing and help them to understand how it makes others feel. Perhaps you can share a thank you note or two you have received from someone else; after all, everyone loves receiving snail mail these days! A great resource for helping them understand this concept is the book The Secret of Saying Thanks.
  2. Set aside a specific time to write. Few children love to just sit down and write. Even in the early writing stages, when they are (mostly) excited to be writing, it is hard to help a child maintain focus long enough to get one thank you note cranked out – let alone several from a birthday party or Christmas gifts. It’s important to set aside a certain time when you can leave all else alone and help your child – perhaps a few minutes a day over the course of a week when they are younger or a thirty-minute period before bed when they are older.
  3. Make it a family affair. If your child(ren) see you doing what you are asking them to do, then they will see the value in the act. Maybe your birthdays are at similar times of year, or else you can each do thank you notes for holiday gifts. Since we know they model their behavior after ours, why not show them how it’s done?
  4. Use special supplies. Let your children pick out the construction paper, scissors, stickers and markers. If they can read their name, show them some fun personalized stationery you ordered or let them help you place the order. They will be more excited if the process is personalized and they have a part in the end result.
  5. Let them be the creator and author. As much as I like things to be “just so,” teaching my children to say “thank you” is not about me. If “thank you” to them looks like several scribbles on a page, a self-portrait, or the sight words they’re learning in kindergarten, let them have control. You can always help them to add the right narrative to go along with the illustrations!
  6. Provide help for any stage of writing. For those who are in their pre-writing ages, let them dictate to you what they’d like to say “thank you” for; then, let them decorate the card. For the early writers, try fill-in-the-blank thank you notes. For the advanced writers, teach them to do more than just say “thank you.” Help them understand that it’s important to not only say “thank you,” but suggest what they might do with the gift, look forward to with the gift, or how they may use a monetary gift. They should also write a bit about what has been going on in their life and inquire about the person to whom they are writing.
  7. Be creative. There are ideas all over Pinterest for creating your own thank you notes … for the Martha’s and the non-Martha’s alike! Some great suggestions I’ve seen are: take a photo of your child with their gift to include with their note; trace your child’s hands; or write thank you on a chalkboard or sign and take a picture of your child holding it.

I hope these ideas encourage you to bring out a bit of thankfulness in your children by helping them create and write thank you notes for friends and family. I know these ideas are giving me the push I need to do more than just write it on my list of to-dos. Not only will the people receiving these notes be excited and blessed, your kids will feel good about showing gratitude and sending mail of their very own (while practicing good manners along the way)!

How have you encouraged your children to write thank you notes?

Allison
Allison is wife to John and mom to three blue-eyed blondes: a six year-old son, a three-year old daughter and a four-month old baby girl. She spends her non-summer days teaching middle school reading and writing and is excited to be writing for an adult audience! When not teaching, she can be found at local parks, taking her children on stroller rides, pushing the car-carts at the grocery store, or ordering vanilla lattes or Diet Dr. Pepper fountain pops. Allison loves decorating her home and tries to keep a good balance between kid-friendly and not kid-run. She enjoys cooking and making meals that are taste bud-friendly for both adults and kids. She is always excited to throw a good party and loves any reason to host family and friends in her home. Allison also blogs for AWG's (Best Choice) Mom Blog and runs Sincerely Design Co .

1 COMMENT

  1. I love this reminder. Handwritten thank you notes have always been important to me, and in recent years, I have certainly slacked off! Such an important skill to teach children!

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