Love Notes

Every once in a while my children want me to pack them a cold lunch for school.  It usually happens like it did this morning - 10 minutes before we have to be out the door!  When my boys were in elementary school, I packed them a lunch almost every day.  Now that they're in middle school and high school, they very rarely ask for lunch from home.  My daughter however, prefers to eat lunch from home and I think this will be something that carries on through high school.  She doesn't like cooked vegetables, "weird" fruit, most meat products and anything served with gravy.

Since I send them off to school with an, "I love you!" and "Have a great day!" and greet them at the end of the day with a, "How was your day?", I thought it might be nice to let them know I'm thinking about them in the middle of the day too.  I started out by handwriting notes and sticking them in their lunch boxes.  Then I found a great website that has little lunchbox cards with all kinds of sentiments for all kinds of occasions and for all kinds of ages.  The website is: http://sayplease.com.  The cards come in little plastic boxes - about credit card size.  One box with 12 notes costs $2.99.

The cards inside have a brief message on the front like "Thanks for always making me laugh" or "I'm sorry we fought".  On the back of the ones for kids, there are trivia questions like "Did you know the plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets?"  On the back of the ones for teens and tweens there are quotes like "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity." - Albert Einstein.

I began by just using these cards in their lunch boxes.  Now, besides their lunch boxes, they may find one on their pillows, stuck to the bathroom mirror, taped to the jug of milk in the refrigerator, in their wallets - just about anywhere.  I've used these cards as love notes,  encouragement, to say I'm proud of them or I'm sorry - just about for any reason.

We can't be with our children all day long.   I think my son Jack, who is a sophomore in high school, would run screaming if I tried.  These cards or even hand written notes left in unexpected places at unexpected times, let them know that just because we're not physically with them, our hearts and minds are!  "Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children." - Charles R. Swindoll, The Strong Family