The Mom of No says YES! to Thank You Notes

The purpose of this blog post is actually to remind my teenager that she has some thank you notes to write.  The Mom of No can be a bit of a stickler about thank you notes; she even forked over the big bucks a few years ago for the teenager to take an etiquette class to learn- among other almost obsolete skills like fine table manners and ballroom dancing- how to write good thank you notes.  The Mom of No is so old school she actually makes her kids write their notes on paper, using a pen.  I know, the horror, right?

When the Mom of No was a kid, way back in the dark ages, the Grandma of No was also a stickler for writing thank you notes- and the Mom of No, who was then the Teenager of Sulk, would roll her eyes and moan and generally act like the world was ending because, you know, it takes FOREVER, and who cares ANYWAY, and WHATEVER, and that pinnacle of adolescent reasoning: “But NO ONE ELSE HAS TO DO IT!”.  Then there were notes to write for high school graduation, and college graduation, and wedding gifts and then a few years later, baby presents (the Mom of No stops here to mention that some of those baby present thank you notes might have been a little incoherent…but she was sleep deprived).  

Then the Mom of No entered that period of life where you are usually the giver of the gifts, and not the receiver of the gifts- and she came to the realization that yes, the thank you notes do matter.  For one, it lets you know that the gift (or money with a card folded around it) was actually received, instead of drifting along to Siberia on a tanker, or sitting in a USPS warehouse, forgotten and alone.   

For another, although I don’t do nice things for people thinking “and I can’t wait to get that thank you note”- I do them because I want to do them- I appreciate the fact that they took time out of their lives to sit down and write a note.  I think it means something to people to know that something they did sent out a positive vibe into the world, a place that is often severely lacking in positive vibes.   

Finally, The Mom of No does not want her offspring growing up thinking that it is okay to receive without expressing appreciation (even if you’re not too thrilled about the gift- here the Mom of No sends a Mom Glare in the direction of her younger child).  It’s a good life skill to have.  Writing a good thank you note will serve you well, although when you are a kid writing notes seems like some silly Mom Rule that they teach you in Mom School* to torture your kids with.   

When you are an adult, kids, you can text or e-mail or mind meld or however they’re doing it in the future- but as long as you live under the roof of the Mom of No’s house- it’s pen and paper.  So suck it up and start writing**.  

*Little known fact: there is no Mom School.  We just make it up as we go along. That’s why mothers sometimes fall back on “Because I said so!”- Our individualized and self-written “How to Mom” manual is still in draft form.  

**And no texting language.  Standard written English, please.