Over the years I’ve been asked by parents what is the one thing, above all else, every parent should do for their child. And my answer is, “Walk Your Talk.”
Even now as a practicing adult and parent, I love watching kids as they constantly try to follow, understand, question, reject, and accept everything their parents do. I watch in awe as the kids do everything possible to look like they’re listening even while their eyeballs are doing everything possible not to do backflips in their sockets.
My motto is: “Do first. Ask questions later.” Walk that talk.
I’m a big fan of thank you and please. And there is no better place to walk the talk of gratitude than to infuse pleases and thank you’s into every pore of your kid’s body, mind, and soul at least 10,000 times a week.
Eventually, they will actually say thank you and please—and mean it—because you done the same thing 10,000 times too. And that’s the name of the gratitude game when it comes to kids. You do, do, do, they watch, watch, watch. Then theoretically, they do the same thing all on their own, which is a most amazing sight to behold.
And one of the greatest acts of thank you personified, and one of the most timeless acts of gratitude, is writing a thank you letter. People say it’s a dying art. I say it’s a timeless act of gratitude that never gets old. It’s one thing to receive a thank you e-mail or text but completely another to receive a handwritten letter, in one’s own chicken scratch, that really tells someone that you are thankful.
Why a thank you letter? Because letters are real.
They are made of paper and the paper holds the time that you took to place into words. The paper can be held – it is made for hands to hold and touch and feel. Because letters are real, they can be saved and cherished for a long time.
The best way to teach your kids this timeless act of giving is to sit down with them and write a thank you letter along with them. As with most anything in the kid world, if you do it along with them, they’ll return the favor . . . most of the time.
It’s easiest when it’s a simple thank you for a gift received as in a birthday or Christmas present. As they get older, you can teach them to write a thank you letter for some kind deed done or when someone just helps out you when you were least expecting it.
In the grand scheme of busy-ness in our lives, this simple handwritten note carries a powerful weight of humanity and love that a mere text message could never do.
So, let’s give our kids the best of our gratitude walk. Let’s talk the talk and share a million please and thank you’s with our kids. And then let’s write the talk, teaching the simple and powerful gesture of thankfulness through the beauty of a handwritten letter of thanks given to another human being. That is a wonderful gift every parent can pass on to their kids!
Carew Papritz is an educational thought-leader, literacy advocate, and award-winning author of the inspirational book, The Legacy Letters.
Thelegacyletters.com
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