How to Get Your Children to Understand the Importance of Thank You Cards

Teaching your children to be grateful for gifts they receive for their birthday and during the holidays is an important part of ensuring they grow up to be well rounded individuals.  How do you get them to appreciate what someone has done for them, though? 

One of the best ways to help children appreciate someone’s thoughtfulness, as well as to express their gratitude, is by teaching them to write thank you cards.

How do you teach children the importance of thank you cards?  Perhaps the best way is to set a good example yourself.  If you don’t write thank you cards to thoughtful people in your life, you can’t really expect your children to jump on board.  Practice being thankful yourself, and your children will follow suit.

Another good idea is to let your children design and make the thank you cards themselves.  Buying the cards at a stationary store and just having your children sign them trivializes the process and lets them get away with the absolute minimum effort.  Having them draw or design their own cards can be a fun way to ensure that your children understand the importance of being grateful, of sending a thank you card to someone for a gift or service, and to enjoy doing it.

Finally, you should just get them in the habit of doing it.  The more frequently your children write thank you cards, the more ingrained in them that habit will become.  If done often enough, this can carry over into their adult life.

Following these tips will help you teach your children why writing thank you cards is important, and instill in them the desire to do so in their own lives.