AIBU to think thankyou letters should just say nice things and thankyou?

[BorderBinLiner]

DH sent his nieces (aged 6 & 4) for Christmas a boxset of Moomin books and some cute little metal Moomin tins of sweets he'd brought back from Hong Kong.

We got this letter back:
To DD1 + DD2
thankyou For the sweets and the moomine books I cant read them they are too tricky but we licked them. we did not licke the sweets.
love from niece1 and niece 2

AIBU to think thankyou letters should just say nice things and thankyou?
[Background: SIL is rather passive/aggressive/critical at family events so we sense that she will have encouraged being honest about not the correct reading level and 'liking'/'not liking' the present]

DonkeysDontRideBicycles word processed, round-robin, boast-battle thank you letters - what is the world coming to.

I always wanted to send my grandmother.

"Thank you for the hideous clothes, please send money instead next time."

Instead my DM got lumbered with dropping anvil sized hints.

Ungrateful little so and sos! ( bloody love the Moomins)

You could also add 'Sorry about the books- it's just that our own DC loved them at that age- but I forget that not all children are at that level....'

Amazed they can spell tricky!!!! Not an easy word for a 6 year old, particularly given the other spelling mistakes. Suspect there was alot of parental input into that note & therefore, it is rude!

Don't be so sure, Bugsy. My 4yo has just discovered writing, and will sometimes randomly shout "how do you spell pterodactyl" while I'm stirring the tea

So rude... even if it is 'a child's honesty' it wouldn't have got out of our house.

Thank you is thank you, whether you liked/licked the gift is irrelevent.

Brownie points that you received a thank you letter - it made me laugh. Suspect that your SIL had input as "tricky" point doesn't ring true. Maybe they were worried that you may buy them the sweets every year!

My dear Goddaughter is 16 & I have have sent 16 years of birthday & christmas gifts through posts & can count on one hand the number of thank you's I have had verbally or written !

YANBU. It was a thank you letter, not a review. Brutal honesty needs to take second place to courtesy in this instance.

Well I wouldn't have let my two send it OP, but I think its funny and rather sweet.

My 4 and 7 year olds had a great lesson in tact this year when thanking a childless friend on mine for the 'War of the Worlds' DVD she sent them . Was very tempted to go with 'Thank you for the DVD. I'm sure we will like it in 6-8 years time when mummy will let us watch it' but I didn't.

Lol this is quite funny though.

Yes it's terribly rude...but they did at least send a letter.

You could always reply that they they've licked the wrong bit of the present.

I think OP has sense of humour failure, come on, it is a funny note and brutaly honest, as kids are.

Sending a prissy lttle note back is just so....prissy

If the parent's were involved it's rude.

However, I just thought the letter was really funny and can see the children being mortified about this when older.

I remember my sister being given a fleece blanket aged 5 and shouting very loudly "why on earth did you think I would like that?!"

I agree with Chandon

Even if there was parental involvement, SIL my not have been deliberately rude. Does your DH think the note was rude?