Thank You Notes

     Have you taught your children to write thank you notes? Do you model that for them? For the first time in too many years to remember, we didn't send Christmas cards this year. We have, however, already slipped a few handmade thank you notes into the mailbox. Help your children learn early that notes of thankfulness are important.

Instead of something that your children might anticipate as difficult, make the task fit their level.

✏️  Pre-writers can draw a picture to tuck into a note that you send. They may enjoy adding stamps to notes that you write. 

 ✏️ You can have young children dictate their thank you note to you and then print their own name. This is perfect practice when they are just beginning to write. 

 ✏️ As they begin to master writing words, you can still simplify their notes with fill in the blank type prompts written by you. "Thank you for the _____" is a simple but appropriate beginning. 

 ✏️ Even after they become independent with writing, prompts about what to say can still be helpful.

Remember your audience. Your children may add an extra note of their love if writing to grandparents. Once after receiving a gift for her new baby, a homeschooling mom helped her son with a handwritten note to me for the gift for his little brother. Maybe she knew as an occupational therapist that I would appreciate his efforts. (Yes, I did.) 

✒️ Make it easy for your children. Gather supplies: stickers, note cards or stationary or even simple ruled paper, pens (or pencils or crayons), markers for embellishments, and anything else your kids would enjoy using. When my girls were younger, they loved sharing handwritten notes on notepads that were personalized with their pictures. You can even have custom ones made from your child's artwork. Now that they are older, my girls enjoy making handmade cards and sealing them with wax. 

✂️ Add some higher level fine motor skills with cutting and pasting cards. For a simple version, find unlined 5x7 index cards. Folded in half, these are just the right size for a thank you note. Then have your little artist design their own masterpiece on the front flap. Older girls may like to design one of a kind cards. Scrapbook paper with designs on one side and solid on the other work well for this. 

✒️ Be prompt. Encourage children to write their thank you notes soon after receiving gifts while the excitement is high. That will make it even easier to recall what they like. 

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