Thank you!
By Brian Jacob Rogers

Have you ever considered just how simple those two little words can make someone smile? When you ask your children to do something, say thank you and watch the smile. It will make them realize that you do appreciate the fact that they did what you asked. Those 2 words can really cheer a person up. I never realized just how powerful those words were til I had been doing tech support for a few months. The first time a customer called and ended the call by saying thank you I was amazed.

We expect our children to say thank you and please, but as adults, we forget to say thank you to our little ones. If I ask the girls to do something, I make a point of saying thank you to acknowledge the fact that they helped me out. Alot of parents never get a chance to talk to teachers unless something is wrong. Its not always by choice, work schedules can play havoc with a life, I know.

How many times have we said thank you to someone and never even thought about what it really means? The dictionary defines thank you as : a expression of one's gratitude. Gratitude, nice way of putting it. I used to be the type that would say thank you and never really think about it. It came automatically; I didn't have to think about it. My youngest asked me why she should say thank you and it took me time to explain that by saying thank you, we are letting someone know that we are glad they helped out.

Think about all the times we have gone thru a fast food drive thru, how many times did we say thank you and not think about it? The people on the other end of the window are working men and women just like us. They have kids to feed, bills to pay, and all the other assorted bills to pay that we do. We may not even say thank you, just grab the food and go. But, if someone were to NOT say thank you to us, wouldn't we be kinda upset?

Are you getting any ideas from reading what I am talking about? Good, cause I lost me, err nope just kidding. I started really thinking about this when I realized that my girls were learning from me. They see/saw every action that I do and say. That is how children learn. I want to set a good example for the girls. I don't want them to be on Jerry Springer or Sally, saying, we are messed up because we learned what our dad was doing. I want them to have manners and respect each other. I want them to say thank you to the lady at the drive-thru window. I want them to set an example for the next generation. Yes, I have alot of wants. But, I think that they are the same wants that we all share for our children. I guess, if you pick up anything from this jumble of thoughts, I hope it is that we MUST set the example for our children. We must show them that we won't ask them to do anything we won't do. And by just 2 little words, we can make this world a better place. No I am not gonna start singing, but you can. Well, this is the end. If you have any comments, criticism, feel free to send me an e-mail at wrhawk65@ctel.net And for those of you that somehow managed to stay awake thru all this. THANK YOU!! And remember, tell your children how much you love them.

Brian
[an error occurred while processing this directive]