Monday Teeny Poll
With last week’s poll about cell phone usage floating around somewhere in the internet ether, I am unable to give you a tally of the results. It seemed that middle school aged children were winning out as the right age to first give a phone to a child, but since the poll was only up for about five hours, that is a bit unreliable. Goodbye last week’s poll, we hardly knew ye!
In a nod to raincoaster’s handwritten Valentines post, I ask you:
I am so happy to see the response to this. I have a real issue with people who don’t send Thank You notes or, in some cases, don’t even acknowledge the receipt of the gift at all. If adults don’t express their thanks, it’s inevitable that their children won’t. I have friends who I love dearly that live across the country from me and I have sent them and their children Christmas gifts every year since I’ve known them. I have never received an acknowledgement that the gifts have even arrived unless I inquired. This year I discontinued the individual gifts and sent a basket of goodies to the “family” which was somewhat impersonal, but at least this way I could trace the delivery. If the parents don’t have the good manners to even make a phone call or send an email to say thanks, then how will their kids ever learn.
By contrast, I have other friends who I send gifts to each year and they have always had their kids write thank you notes. Even when they were very young they would draw pictures and send them. I have saved every one of those notes and love shopping for them each year.
I guess the bottom line is that not acknowledging a gift is just downright rude and disrespectful.
According to socialites quoted in Vanity Fair, people are even emailing thanks to the White House for state dinner invitations. That sets the tone; of course, you can see how Jenna and Not-Jenna turned out.
I think there’s a big difference between not acknowledging a gift and sending a hand written thank you note. I have never sent a hand written thank you note (I will write thank you notes for wedding gifts but I’m not there, yet). My children will probably never send them either. But when I recieve a gift from an indirect source (the mail or via a family member I see more often) I always make a phone call or send an email.
Also, my guy’s sister send out handmade thank you notes… written in the first person as her 2 year old. I think that’s a bit much although I’m sure a lot of people appreciate it.