“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.” —John F Kennedy
There are certain words that always bring a smile on one’s face and these words can most certainly be termed as ‘magic words’. But why should we call these words as ‘magic words?’ It is simply because magic can be defined as the power of apparently influencing events by using mysterious or supernatural forces. One such word that ignitesthe imagination of everyone is ‘thank you’. It is because ‘thank you’ expresses a dominant feeling. We, at the Best School in Ghaziabad, teach our students when and how to express thank you.
We as parents teach our children to say please but very often overlook to teach them to thank you. We need to understand that ‘thank you’ is not just preparedness to be respectful but the word conveys anunpretentiousthankfulness of work done.
Now the question that arises is who do we want to thank? Well, it can be anything and everything that we should be thankful for. We are thankful to our parents for providing us all comfort, security,guidance, love, and care. We are thankful to our helpers for providing us essential services that make our life easy and relaxed. We are thankful to our grandparents for fulfilling all our wishes and always supporting us. Therefore it is rightly stated that a moment of gratitude makes a difference in our attitude.
While talking to our children, we often put a few questions to them. One such question couldbe—canyou think of things that we should be thankful to as there is always something to be thankful for? We can tell them that do they not think that we should be thankful to the sun to providing us warmth or should we not be thankful to trees for providing us oxygen in such a scenario where air quality is rather poor. We know that trees give us essential air for our survival and what do they ask us in return for providing sustenance …………….. it’s nothing. So we must be grateful to them for their selfless service to us.
ASPAM Scottish School in Noida Sector 62 regularly planssuch ‘thank giving days’ where the students of the best CBSE School get an opportunity to thank every helper of the schoolfrom maids to drivers to peon to the gardener and all the support staff of the school. Aspamians are trained to wish each helper, to show respect, to listen and to talk to thempolitely. Role-plays are also undertaken specially by the Pre-Primary wing of one of the Best Schools in Noida and the students are taught to express their gratitude towards people or things that matter to them the most.
Here a few ways that can be used to develop a vocabulary that comprises the most influential magic word i.e. thank you.
- Every time when your kid is giving you something or has lent help in accomplishing a task, you must say thank you, in such a way, the child will in due course learn to use the word and that too aptly and efficiently.
- Genuineness of saying thank you by the parent or any elder will most certainly motivate the child to undertake any given task with due candour and commitment.
- Appreciate your children whenever they say ‘thank you’ as it will motivate them to repeat thatword often and include it in their vocabulary repository.
- Saying ‘thank you’ will help your child to develop into a kind and empathetic person who cares and respects everyone around.
- You can also ask your child to write (maybe fortnightly) a note of ‘thank you’ to a person who has immensely helped him /her.
As a coin has two faces, similarly, it may be contended by a few that saying ‘thank you’ so often may make children submissive but contrary to the belief, the usage of ‘thank you’ or showing your gratitude towards friends, family or for that matter the things that are helpful to us, support us in becoming much more virtuous and compassionate. So next time when you say‘thank you’just remember that it is not just etiquette or good manners or a social nicety but a magic word that should form an indispensable part of our persona.
