What Happened to Etiquette?

Before emails and texting – yes, there was once upon a time when we used to have to write letters with a pen and paper.  That entailed buying stationery from a stationery store and it would cost about $8 a box of 8 cards and envelopes (back in the 70’s).  Then we would have to buy stamps on sheets of 10 or rolls of 100 at the post office.  And if we made a mistake on the letter or envelope, we’d have to start over! Yet even though writing a thank you note took 10 times longer and actually cost money to do so, we wrote thank you cards and letters every time we received a gift.

But today, kids (and even adults) often don’t write or even acknowledge gifts they receive.  I’m not talking about writing a formal thank you letter on expensive stationery – I’m talking about simply sending a text or email just to let the gift giver know that the gift was received.  Call me old fashioned, but it seems rude that children today are not being taught consideration and well, etiquette. 

When my girls were young, they would receive dozens of gifts from family and friends.  I was the first to have children so my kids were indulged by everyone.  Just last week while Nicole and Jaclyn were home for Christmas, they mused about how nice this Christmas was because they didn’t have to write all of those thank you letters.  Back then, they would open a gift, and play with it so they could write a meaningful letter about what they liked best about the game or toy.  If they received clothes, they modeled the outfit before the camera and we sent a photo showing them wearing the clothes. When they finished their thank you note, they opened the next gift.  You’re probably thinking that this is over the top, but it slowed down the gift opening so the girls got to appreciate each gift.  When they were really young, it generally took several days to open all of the gifts for Christmas.

I don’t think I can say that Nicole and Jaclyn liked this system, but I’m sure the gift givers enjoyed receiving their thank you letters. Even with everyone’s busy schedules today, I think kids do, or should, have time to send a text or email, or make a call to show their appreciation.