Great Ways to Really Say Thank You!
We all know how much we are connected to those around us at school, work and in the community with friends, neighbors and loved ones helping us every day. But how often do we thank those people for all of the things that they do all of the time?
Spotlighting those people can make a huge difference to them and to us as we remember how good it feels to say thank you. Some of them, like crossing guards, custodians, and librarians, help us daily and get only token thank you responses once in awhile.
Get your family involved & do some really good thank you’s.
Kids are especially good at this. If you talk to them about the people that could use a thank you, they will probably tell you things that they have noticed about those people that will prompt good thank you’s. They may notice the crossing guard could use a new hat, or the lady at the lunch counter really likes flowers and would probably be surprised and pleased to receive a bouquet of flowers.
Sit down and talk about it and then whip up the thank you, along with a plan for delivering it. This can turn into a whole production, but that’s the great thing about it. It is not just a token thank you, some real effort goes into it. Involve the kids in writing the thank you notes, baking and decorating cookies, or creating a big sign to go with the project. Lifehack recently suggested helping kids write an old fashioned letter to say thank you. This would probably be especially effective in a thank you going to senior folk at a care center. They would probably be surprised and welcome an honest to goodness letter.
Thank you projects can easily multiply.
As the thank you project picks up momentum you may want to make it a weekly event at your house, keeping a list of ‘people to thank’ on the fridge or on the computer. And of course with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day coming up more plans can be made for a special thank you with parties at the park or barbecues serving as the centerpiece. Be sure and take pictures of the thank you presentations as they happen and post them too.
Sometimes these small events can grow into bigger projects for groups that you and your family are involved in with senior centers, hospitals or other community events.
Used under Creative Commons Licensing courtesy of Art&Music*Woo-Hoo