Thanks from the kids

I have a few strong convictions. 

Okay, I have several strong convictions.

Fine! I have strong opinions on everything from oatmeal to grass clippings.  (Whew, that felt good to say!)

Anyways, one thing I feel strongly about is writing thank you notes whenever appropriate.  This includes making children write their own thank you notes.  And, now that my Little Guy is getting older, I'm getting him involved in the process so that in a few years he can write his own.   

Here he is after his 3rd birthday in October: 

I let him punch out shapes and glue them onto blank notecards.  He had a fun time drawing and creating pictures.  The Little Guy decorated the outside, and I wrote a thank you message on the inside.  As I wrote, I read to him what each note said and stressed the importance of having good manners and showing appreciation. 

You should know that I also begged him to stay on the paper and not glue the notecard to the placemat.   This whole thank-you-note-thing is in the early stages.

He had a lot of fun with this, and I think that by easing him into the process now, we won't have that typical parent-child argument of "Write your thank you note to Aunt Tricia or ELSE!!!" when he's in second grade.

Well, we still might have that argument, but hopefully it won't need professional mediation.

Here's one of his finished products:

Now that Christmas is coming and children everywhere are gleefully anticipating what Santa will bring, it's the perfect time to get them started on their thank you notes.  If they are too young to write, then they can draw on the outside.  If they can write, then they can decorate their stationary or pick some out.  Discuss with your child an adequate timeline to get those thank you notes completed, and what should be included in the note.  Tackling this issue now will make reminders go down easier after all the presents have been opened.  After all, part of receiving a gift is properly thanking the giver.  Or ELSE!!!  

This has been a public service announcement from The Martha Initiative.  Which I feel very strongly about.  The end.