I have always explained myself as kind of an old soul when it came to manners and etiquette. I was not sure if the topic of the importance of handwritten thank you notes would be well received in our technology driven world, but after speaking with another new mom, she agreed that it is an art that is important for so many different reasons.
I grew up in a home where we sat down at the kitchen table after each holiday and birthday and wrote thank you notes to our friends and family members that gave us gifts. As an adult I have continued this tradition and still send thank you notes when I receive a gift or service from someone. Not only is it polite, but it also teaches kids how to write a letter, address an envelope, where to put the stamp, and where addresses are kept in the house.
Besides being polite, developing this habit can help children when they are older and start going on college interviews, job interviews, and any additional community type meeting they will encounter as they get older. Sending a handwritten thank you note is a dying art and can help your child stick out in a good way. Emails get lost in the mix, texting can be considered too informal, but a nice thank you note can be the final push for the new job, scholarship, or even college acceptance.
The last office job I accepted, I wrote a thank you note to the woman who interviewed me. When I arrived on my first day and was going through training I stopped in her office to say hello and she had my thank you note tacked to her bulletin board. It might not have been the reason I ultimately got the job, but she liked the thank you note enough to save it and put it up in her office.
You might be thinking, what’s the big deal or isn’t a text good enough? But I beg to differ. We live in a world where we text everyday, but receiving mail is a forgotten form of communication. It is special to send and receive mail. You can make it fun for your children to make their own thank you notes, send special drawings, or color pages from a coloring book to send as their notes.
I believe that instilling this skill into our children when they are young will help them be grateful for the gifts they receive throughout life. As an adult I still like to receive thank you notes stating that they enjoyed the gift I gave them. I have kept some of the thank you from my grandmother in my keepsake box to remember her handwriting and the sweet notes she has written to me over the years. It is a fun and easy tradition to start and keep with your family.
