It was March 2018 when I said to myself, "Gee, I haven't done anything creative for a long time..."
The idea for a book to teach children to say "Thank You" came from out of No-Where and lit up my brain like a lightning bolt. I needed to write this vision down immediately because if I didn't, I knew that it'd be gone forever. (You've had that happen, right?!?) But a CHILDREN'S BOOK?!? Such a thought had never been on my Bucket List nor any other To Do List!
Like a hit song that gets written in a matter of minutes, I had the text (as well as marketing ideas and notes) written in a little over 3 hours. For the most part, those words have remained unchanged to this day.
The original title was Why and How To Say "Thank You" - A Guide for Children. This book didn't seem to fit into any obvious category. It wasn't a picture book. It wasn't a parenting book. I just didn't know what it was for sure. I made a mockup of the book but I had to explain it to everyone I showed it to. If I had to clarify what it was, then it was nowhere near being ready.
After making a total of FIVE prototypes over the course of 5 years, it finally settled into an identity: it's a children's ACTIVITY book and it's self-explanatory! The title has been truncated to become Why and How To Say "Thank You". Artwork depicting situations that would inspire someone to say "thank you" has been created by talented clip-artist, Mable Chin. Included is the template for How To Write a Thank You Note, which follows the natural flow of the book. I wanted it to be sturdy and "reusable" so I insisted on laminated pages. The coil bound book includes a zipper pouch containing a dry erase marker, 4 Crayola crayons, a sheet of Glitter Star Stickers and 5 blank cards with envelopes - handy supplies to make that Thank You Note!
After a bright flash debut, my self-published children's activity book stalled out, as is common for projects like this. The most valuable insight I gained from the feedback was that this needs to get into the schools. I had no inkling how that could ever happen, especially with it's high production costs for laminated pages. This was a labor of love - a project of my heart that I believed in but had no clue how to proceed. That spring, with the help of Jake Ballentine (Mountain Top Mastermind) along with Stephanie Hyde, the Culture of Thank You was born!
For the Culture of Thank You's foundation, I developed Operation Thank You - a series of classroom activities (MISSIONS) for youngsters to systematically learn WHY and HOW to say "Thank You", culminating in writing a Thank You Note. A select group of teachers presented Operation Thank You to their students with the MISSIONS provided to the teachers through daily automated emails.
From there, the Culture of Thank You Program emerged with the new Operation Thank You Manual at its core. The manual expanded from the original Monday - Friday Format to include the Once-Per-Week Format. The Program includes a printed version of the Why and How To Say "Thank You" Activity Book for each child. Rounding out the complete package is the set of large colorful flashcards with the situations from the Activity Book.
The Culture of Thank You Program is poised and ready for teachers, parents of home-schoolers, day care providers and various youth leaders to introduce to any group of youngsters. Overnight success. Um, yeah, right. [insert deranged laughter] !
Thank you for reading my very first post! I look forward to announcing EVERY New Sponsor on this page as they join in to support the Culture of Thank You movement. Business Sponsor and Individual Sponsor names will collectively appear on the "Sponsor List - Thank You!" page on this site as well!
LISTEN to your gut. LISTEN to your intuition. LISTEN to The Voice.
- Alison "The Thank You Lady"
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