Encouraging Your Kids to Write Thank You Notes

As parents, it’s our responsibility to teach our kids the importance of gratitude.  Kids are not born as grateful individuals and it’s our job to help them nip that sense of entitlement in the bud and remember that other people matter, too, especially when those people have given them gifts.  The act of writing thank you notes is an excellent learning tool for them (and us!) to take stock of the blessings in life.

If writing thank you notes hasn’t been part of your gift-receiving routine then there is no time like the present to set this good habit for you and your kids.  Keep it simple.  You don’t have to spend a lot of money on fancy stationary.  A $3 pack of thank you notes or a simple note on a blank card is sufficient.  For your children, it is entirely appropriate to have them make a card out of construction paper, stickers or, better yet, have them use any craft materials that they received as gifts. 

Your children should be encouraged to write a thank you note to each person from whom they received a gift.  The basic format of the language should be the same but each card should be individual.  Start by having your child address the gift-giver(s) by name.  The child should go on to thank them specifically for the gift(s) and then explain why they like the gift.  But, what if they DON’T like the gift?!  It happens; don’t sweat it.  Simply have your child thank them for the gift and then find something else kind to say such as, “I miss you”, “It was fun seeing you at Grandma’s”, “I am so happy that you thought of me”, etc.

If your child is very young and cannot write well or at all then you may want to ask them what they want to say and transcribe the wording of the card for them to save time.  You may get some funny child-like statements but we would encourage you to try not to edit what your child says.  It can be heart-warming for the person receiving the card to know that the words were coming directly from the child and not mom or dad.  To save yourself some unnecessary frustration, you should assess the level of your child’s writing ability and decide accordingly what you will do and what you will ask them to do.  Perhaps some should just sign their name while others can write the recipients’ names or the entire card. 

While handmade cards are certainly some of the most appreciated, we understand that time and the number of children or the amount of gifts they’ve received does not always permit you to sit down with your kids all day to write out thank you notes.  In this case, you can find simplified, printable thank you note templates for children at  Dabbled.

We hope you will take the time to resurrect the lost art of the personalized, handwritten thank you note in your home.  A simple thank you note speaks volumes to the gift-giver about your gratitude and your appreciation of them as a person and helps us to remember that, despite our circumstances, there are always blessings to be counted.