Children’s Writing of Thank You Cards or Notes

Receiving gifts and being treated to special trips and outings is always fun, and children should be taught that their appreciation to family and friends needs to be expressed with a written thank you note or card. Sending notes of thanks or thank you cards can be a fun arts and crafts project, complete with a trip to the post office to buy stamps and deposit the notes in the mailbox. The process may take only a few moments but can have a lasting effect and encourage children to continue writing thank yous for occasions later in life.

Even though the actual task of writing the notes can be a fun and gratifying activity, the motivation to sit down and do it can be the hard part. Here are some ideas to make sure the appreciation factor materializes:

• Buy notes before the expected event to give your child advance notice that the notes will have to be written after gifts are received. This way, there are no surprises about “another chore I have to do.” The notes will be on hand when the mood strikes, and extra errand to the card store is eliminated.
• Let your child help pick out the thank you cards or notes and special pens.
• Provide your child with the “fun” supplies – colored paper, markers, glitter or gel pens, stickers, maybe even some of the fancy foil confetti to go inside the envelope.
• Write the notes the night of or the day after the gift-giving event while the excitement of receiving a gift is still fresh in the child’s mind.
• Set a deadline by which to finish. This will teach your child that notes should be sent out in a timely fashion.
• Reward with a treat after the job is finished, such as a trip to the ice cream shop.

A field trip to the post office to buy stamps is also a lesson in handling money and social interaction. Let your child affix the stamps to the envelopes and mail them in the mail slot. And, the next time your child sees the recipients of his thank you card, he will certainly receive a boost to the self esteem when the adults compliment him on his social graces. Habits learned early in life are more likely to be practiced throughout adulthood and learning to write business thank you cards is an important skill to learn for many careers. A good place to start is showing written appreciation for the kindnesses and generosity shown to us by others.