National Handwriting Day might seem like the perfect day to wring your hands and bemoan the death of penmanship, especially if you're a grandparent who has given up waiting for thank-you notes from grandchildren for the holiday gifts you sent a few weeks ago.
But please: don't just grouse about what they're not doing. Pick up that pen yourself.
Whenever I hear complaints from grandparents about how the younger generation don't write to say "thank you," I ask them to think about how many thank you notes those children have ever received in their lives. How can you expect children to give someone else a treat they've never experienced themselves?
Make it a project sometime this year to send children a thank-you note yourself, prompt and particular and written nicely by hand, for something--anything--they do for you. Model what you want them to do while you also let them know how it feels to be thanked on paper.
But please: don't just grouse about what they're not doing. Pick up that pen yourself.
Whenever I hear complaints from grandparents about how the younger generation don't write to say "thank you," I ask them to think about how many thank you notes those children have ever received in their lives. How can you expect children to give someone else a treat they've never experienced themselves?
Make it a project sometime this year to send children a thank-you note yourself, prompt and particular and written nicely by hand, for something--anything--they do for you. Model what you want them to do while you also let them know how it feels to be thanked on paper.
Its such a shame that the school systems in Maryland are no longer teaching handwriting. Like everything, its going the way of the dinosaur.
ReplyDeleteYou can keep it alive in your own family and circle of friends.
ReplyDelete