The inspiration for these notes came when my oldest child was starting kindergarten.
I vowed to include a daily handwritten note in her lunch. It wasn’t long before that became an uncreative chore with my scribbles simply saying, “Have a great day, Love Mommy”. Then one afternoon I sat down and jotted some ideas for “lunch note” topics. I would give myself specific prompts to write about that my daughter would enjoy reading. I grabbed a stack of index cards and wrote a sentence starter at the top of each card…things like, “When I was your age, my favorite school lunch was…” or “Something that scared me as a child was…” or “The best books I read in elementary school were…”
She began to look forward to the notes and then chatting about them when she got home from school. When a few fellow moms mentioned their children were asking for lunch notes like these. I printed up a bunch and passed them along. I enjoyed hearing stories about how those notes became meaningful ways for parents to connect with their kids. If this worked for parents and kids, maybe I could create something to encourage people to put pen to paper and write notes to friends.