Teaching Your Kids to Use Thank You Cards

One frustrated aunt sighed in exasperation this Christmas after yet another beautiful gift was sent to her 15-year-old niece and yet no thank you cards arrived. She had spent over a decade sending specially selected gifts to her favorite niece and hearing nary a word about the packages. The aunt knew they were used, loved and appreciated – phone calls would usually elicit appreciation for the new objects. And she knew who the real wrongdoers were – the parents, her sister and brother-in-law.

Teaching your children to send thank you notes is a great way to show them how to be appreciative and how to follow rules of etiquette. In this day of evites and social networks, it might seem silly to your child to sit down and put pen to paper. It’s an important lesson, and it should be taught early.

Teaching by example is a great way to show your kids the importance of sending thank you notes. Take the time after the holidays to sit down as a family and write thank yous. Start this at an early age and your child will learn by route that this is the proper etiquette. Make writing out thank yous fun – let them pick out their own thank you stationary, or have them make individual cards for each person that sent them a gift.

Show your child thank yous that other people send to your house. Make sure you point out how important you thought it was, and how kind it was for that person to send along a note. When your child knows that thank yous are noted and appreciated, they will see their importance and necessity.

Make sure your child knows that thank you notes aren’t only for gifts. When someone does something kind, send him or her a thank you note. Tell your child what you are doing, and when your child experiences touching kindness, make sure you have them write out a card as well. By showing your child that thank you notes are important year-round and not just on birthdays, they will begin to use them regularly to express gratitude.

These touches will not only make your child versed with etiquette – sending thank yous in the business world is a great way to be noticed, to stand out from a crowded employment pool and to build relationships within the office and with clients. It might seem like yet another thing you have to force your child to do, but by starting early and incorporating it into your family’s life, you can be sure that your child will be a model of gratitude throughout their life.