Hi everyone! It’s Mandy (mother of 2 – a 5-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl). I am blogging on Be the Difference, recapping some valuable tips from Empowering Kids With Character – The Show!

Gratitude Book and Practice with Kids - mariadismondy.com

On November 15th, Maria shared a book (and application) that will help your children learn even more about gratitude (and also about patience!). You can watch the video here.

The book Maria shared is Snail Mail by Samantha Berger – this book may be a little difficult for children, now-a-days, to understand, as they don’t really “mail” letters a whole lot (unless you’re like my son who has a best friend that lives in a different state!). We live in an age where we “usually” communicate through text, email and social media. All ways that are immediate and fast. Whereas, mailing a letter is more time-consuming and SLOWER. But there is such a great concept here!!! The book is about a little girl who lives in California and her friend lives in New York. She writes and mails a letter to him. The book teaches children the concept about the art of letter-writing, which is a lost art. In my opinion, it’s such a lost art form. To receive a handwritten letter is so incredibly special! That means that someone took TIME to sit down and write to ME! Wow!!!!!! I love a hand-written note or letter!!!

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After reading the book, you can apply the concept of the book by taking a few minutes to then write a letter to someone you care about, and have your child write one as well. Mail your letters together and know that whoever is receiving them will feel so special!

Maria also shared that her publishing company, Cardinal Rule Press, organizes an event, every other month, at a local coffee shop where children can come with a family member/adult and write letters to people they care about. The bonus? Cardinal Rule Press supplies all the stamps and stationary! That is how committed Maria is to ensuring this lost art form is not lost forever!

**If you are still reading, have you grabbed our free Ultimate Character Booklist? The top books you should be reading at home and in the classroom to support positive character development in children!

Remember that Maria alternates these videos between her author page and the private Empowering Kids with Character page, which provides more ideas on the monthly theme and also support from fellow parents and educators!

Don’t forget to add the Empowering Kids With Character Flash Briefing on your Amazon Alexa app!