Parenting Teaching Gratitude

We were Catholic not Jewish but I’m thinking the guilt is very similar.

For my 8th grade graduation a cousin sent me a package of note cards. When she did not receive a thank you note she ‘innocently’ asked my mother if I had received her gift. Mother lit into me: “If someone is kind enough to send you a gift the least you can do is show appreciation.” My mother ‘helped’ me make a little wall decoration from one of cousin’s cards and I used another card to write a thank you note. Lesson learn. I passed this lesson on to our son and daughter.

My brother often tells me how our kids are the only ones he ever gets thank a you from; never knowing if the gift he doesn’t hear about was ever received. While I was embarrassed recently because a friend asked me if my daughter received a baby gift send months ago (really no excuse not to AT LEAST text or email – ‘thanks – so sweet – really enjoying your thoughtfulness’ (and maybe a picture of the child even with the gift) – daughter’s wife made adorable cards for their toddler to fingerprint while daughter wrote the thank you message for our Christmas gifts. SWEET and great way to keep the lesson of thankfulness moving forward.

Our kids usually send us thank you notes as we do them. I also got the message across that instead of an expensive card with someone else’s thoughts I’d rather a note card with YOUR thoughts or at least a pretty card WITH  your loving thoughts!

Thank you Christmas notes from son’s two boys – guess his 4-year-old daughter was being a slacker when the thank you note class was in session

From 7 year old James

From 10 year old Caleb Bruce 

Is this important to you? Why or why not?

“The most precious gift we can give one another is letting them know they matter.”  Julie A R Stephens
julie@handsbestrong.com

Living in the Mountains

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2 thoughts on “Parenting Teaching Gratitude”

  1. Hi! YES!

    Giving and receiving ‘thank you’ messages is important to me! Plus, I know the gift isn’t ‘lost in space’ or stolen off porches! 🤷🏼‍♀️

    I trained our sons to do it as ‘toddlers’, too. (Thumbprints are sweet!) I knew their grandparents would love to see their markings and handwriting as they grew. Now, I love reading our grandchildren’s gratitude and expressions of love. It’s so good for their growth to do this. I write them thank you notes as well.

    Happy Wintering ❄️

    1. Right! If we don’t appreciate our blessings we might as well not have them – and HOW do people know we appreciate them and what they mean to us and what they do for us – WE TELL THEM! love & hugs Susie!

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