To let my DD type rarher than write thank you letters?

[WhyTheBigPaws]

I insist my DD sends thank you letters at Xmas and birthdays but know she finds writing them a chore like most kids. The letters are always polite but usually quite short. She is getting quite good on the computer now and enjoys using it, WIBU to let her type the letters instead? I know people would get much longer, more interesting letters this way but I worry that it might be thought lazy or impersonal and I don't want to offend any of the kind friends and family who are so generius to her.

I would say most people wouldn't think anything of getting a typed letter printed out or an email as a thank you.

The fact that you're teaching your DD to be grateful and say thank you is good

Mine always phone people and actually chat to them as a lot of what they get is money so they tell the person what they've spent it on or what they're saving for etc...

But YANBU if she wants to type them...she may as well send them by email. She can jazz them up with different patterned backgrounds etc too so it looks as though she's really put some extra effort in

Don't do what a friend of mine did and send a group email to everyone who send a present saying, "thanks for the toys". I didn't get her DD a toy, don't consider myself thanked. You DD doing typed wouldn't offend me as you can see from above, I am easily offended.

Ynbu - so few children are made to do this now - its good that she is and I can't imagine anyone would mind - unless it's obviously a template and just the name is changed which could seem like she didn't want to make an effort.

You both sound lovely x

I always used to type my thank you letters on my dad's gargantuan laptop. As a trade-off, like you said, I would write one longer letter with updates from my whole year.

Sounds sensible enough to me.

Typed is fine, especially if she enjoys it and will decorate the page / include pictures etc. could be lovely.

Actually if she sent it via email she could attach a photo of herself playing with the toy or whatever...should she wish to of course.

I was going to say YABU but looking at some of the other responses, as long as they were still personalised and had pictures, colours etc, or a photo of her playing with the toys, then they would still look as though she had put some time and thought into the letters, so then YWNBU. I suppose I'd worry that typed letters could look a little like a parent wrote them.

That's exactly what I think she would do - she loves playing with fonts and colours, adding pics etc so the letters would be much more interesting than just Dear X Thank you for X Love From LittlePaws. Email would be great (and attaching a pic of herself even better) but a lot of the 'generious' (bloody phone!) givers are oldish and non-techy. Great for mates though.

Thanks all :)

I have received both handwritten and typed thank you letters.

I really don't mind at all how it's done.

Wouldn't bother me at all.

All that bothers me is not getting one!

I would just be happy to get the thank you from her.

Lexies I know how my DD writes so I think it's unlikely anyone would think I'd done them (I hope!) but that's a good point. I think the thing is to ensure it looks like a bit of effort has been put in whether it's a written letter, typed email or friendly phone call. Anything that looks rushed or as though it's been done reluctantly would be ruder in my opinion.

I went to a retirement party a few months ago and there must have been easily 150 guests there.

The person retiring wrote every single one of them a personalised Thank You card and she didn't limit them to one or two lines either

I still don't know how she managed it unless she got her DH and DD to write the ones where the guest wouldn't know her handwriting

For younger children, I actually like the typos and spelling mistakes in an email, you can see it's them who's typed it and put the effort in. It's easy to do a spell check, but if they were writing a letter there'd be some great mistakes wouldn't there?

I loathed having to ring rellies worra, nothing worse than awkward, formal phone convos

YANBU. Some years, DH makes videos of the DC saying thank you, it's great and does such-and-such, etc. Everyone got an individual video, specifically for them. The grandparents loved it.

Another one here who is only bothered if I don't receive any acknowledgement. Nephews frequently email us and they are great - mad smilies inserted, wacky fonts. It's lovely to know that gifts have arrived safely and they are appreciated, which is all that matters. I love getting letters, but realise technology moves on. However, it may be appropriate for much older relatives who don't have access to a new fangled computing engine.

Love the idea of the video, BTW.

Yes, life is too short for letter-writing in large batches.

I did it for my wedding gifts - never again.

Worra I have a 3 month old and so far I have sent over 120 handwritten thank you cards and all have been personal, mentioned the gift and were more than a few lines long. I'm not sure how I have managed it.... But I have! People have mentioned to MIL how touched they have been and now much they appreciated them so it has made it all worthwhile!

I wouldn't mind a typed thank you so long as it was obvious it wasn't just the same one that had been sent to everyone