Saying “thank you” is one of the first polite terms that we taught Pea. She said, and says, thank you for everything. For her favorite snack, a diaper change, bubbles in the bath. Just about any and everything warrants a “thank you.” My mother taught me the same some 30-something years ago. Good manners are essential in getting through life with a minimum of bumps along the way. The most important thank you that you can give, I believe, is the thank you card. My mother had me send them for everything. And I do mean everything. A sleep-over at a girlfriend’s house. A teacher at the end of the school year. You name it, I sent a thank you for it. I had my own engraved stationery dating back to the single digits of my life, I remember it distinctly: my name and address with strawberries and polka dots. Very 70s, indeed.

Now, I still send thank you cards. For gifts, for dinners, for virtually everything. But in this day and age, I feel like I’m one of the only ones who still does this. Sure, some people have moved on to the electronic thank you – as in an email or a text message. Not all that personal, but still, better than nothing. One person in my life told me about a year ago to stop sending her thank you notes because she thought it was silly to have to write a thank you note to a family member. Mind you, this person is 62-years old! My mother-in-law sends a thank you email to my husband to tell me how much she appreciates something that I’ve done for her. My sister-in-law? My brother-in-law? They don’t send thank you notes at all. Not even on behalf of their children. And my mother? Lord, the one time I called her to thank her for something, she apparently let my exclusion of a handwritten thank you fester deep inside her for months until one day on the telephone, she had a meltdown. I can assure you, I will never again not send a handwritten thank you. I guess I didn’t realize just how powerful they are.

My girls, they both have their own personally engraved note cards as well. We ordered them immediately upon naming them, and although they might not be able to write yet, I write little notes on their behalf and usually let my older daughter scribble a little picture on the top of the card. Their stationery comes from Amy Adele, which is possibly the most adorable childish stationery I’ve ever seen. I spent days designing the perfect card for both girls, one that reflects who they each are. I’ll tell you, people always rave about how thrilled they are to receive a thank you from them. Sure, one of my girls is only 4-months old, but you can’t start too early with the good manners, right? I really believe in this day of Blackberries and email and text messaging that a handwritten note still conveys how much you are grateful for another being. That’s a lesson I’d like to pass along to my girls.