A Mom Life Hack- Thank you notes

We all do silly things and come up silly ideas.  I am going to share one of my favorites.

I am a huge proponent of thank you notes.  I am working really hard to teach Marcus that they are important. (he actually loves sending and receiving mail).  So from the moment he was born I started training him to write thank you notes, and other cards.

 He actually writes out his own thank you notes and letters and I am going to tell you all about it.

This is my favorite mom life hack.  After an event where Marcus receives and unexpected or unrequired gift we start the process of sending out thank you cards.  One of two things happen- either I let him pick out the cards he wants to send himself of (like this thank you card featured here) I make it on Shutterfly- totally depends on my mood and how ambitious I am feeling.  Anyway once we have the thank you cards in hand, and of course the list of who should get one it is time to go.  Even when he was super little we did it the same way.

Once we have the list I read it to Marcus and ask him who he wants to say thank you too first- for some reason he answer is always Great Granma Warner, anyway once that is decided I remind him of the gift he received and he starts to write, color, or paint his note.  I may not know what is actually says but I know he is working to show he is thankful.

 

 Here is a sample thank you card written out by Marcus. 

Normally he will help me put them in envelope and adds a few stickers to the back for a final touch. I also make sure the return address is his name, after all if I use store bought thank you notes, the return address is the only way a person would know the card is from him (although occasionally I do right "Love Marcus" on them too).  We put the stamp on and even walk it down to the mailbox.  That way he gets the entire process from beginning to end.

 

 

 

 

Last thought-  here are my rules on who gets "Thank you Cards" and when.

• Birthdays- Everyone who gives a gift or attends his party gets one.
• Christmas- We only send them to people who provide unexpected gifts- especially if we did not reciprocate with a gift.
• Other events- if Marcus gets a gift during any other time of year we try to write a thank you note or if some one does something unexpected with him or takes him to an event

I know that others have their own etiquette rules but this is what we follow in our house.