I hope you had a great thanksgiving. Did you try the gratitude exercise I recommended? I decided since my girls are used to sharing family appreciations at our family meetings, that instead I would write each of my girls a letter of appreciation and have them open it at the Thanksgiving table. I am pretty sure they enjoyed the letter more than the turkey! I twitttered about this and I got several requests to know what the heck to put in an "appreciation letter". My daughter Zoe (16 yrs) gave me permission to share what I wrote to her:
Zoe, I am so thankful for your tenderness and kindness. You have a truly compassionate soul. You care deeply for people and stick up for the under dog. I really admire that. I appreciate your wit and your humor. You can easily brighten my day that way. I am thankful for your little gestures of caring, like how you play with my hair when I am at my computer writing late at night. I am sorry you got stuck with me as you’re your paddle partner this summer on the windiest day of the summer, but it’s a memory I am going to cherish forever! I hope in time you do to! My godness, you worked hard paddling for hours and that was AFTER you were totally spent. What a testament to what you got in you gal! Sooo awesome. You take your responsibilities seriously and that shows with how you care for yourself, your school work, your driving and everything you tackle. - Love Mom.
I learned about "love notes" while I was working as a nursery school at an Adlerian nursery school. We regularly sent "love notes" home with the children, especially to the discouraged and misbehaving students. You'd be amazed at how much impact these little notes can have. Plus, you're teaching your child the fine art of giving appreciations so your apt to get a note back one day too! Who doesn't love being acknowledged and appreciated? Everyone does! I appreciate that you are taking time to follow me and read my parenting tips.
That is so awesome! I can imagine how great it felt to write that note, as well as for your daughter to read it! I sometimes write "birthday letters" to my kids where I give them a letter on their birthday that is filled with stories about what the year has been like, what they're interested in, what I love about them and things like that. When my 14 year old puts it up on her bulletin board and gives me a big hug, I know it means a lot and is appreciated.
Posted by: Karen | October 11, 2010 at 07:56 PM