In these days of rapid communication through text messages, emails and social media platforms, conventional letters have taken the backseat. However, it is nice to receive an old fashioned letter from someone you love, now and then. Believe it or not, some people still opt to use the old ways of communicating – writing a letter and sending it in paper form.
Many circumstances can warrant writing a standard letter. One such is writing a letter to a family member to apologize for something you did wrong. In such a letter, the tone needs to be well, apologetic. You need to sound as if you really do feel bad for what you did that made the other person so unhappy or caused him or her harm. Since this is a personal letter, you can use non-professional language. In fact, you should be writing it in a personal manner.
Apologizing is one thing. There is more to writing an apology letter than simply saying sorry. One has to make a promise not to repeat the mistake. Providing an explanation about why you made the mistake in the first place is also important. Here is a letter from a daughter to her father, apologizing for something that she did wrong:
Apology Letter to Father from Daughter
Dear Father:
I am deeply regretful of the way I behaved with you yesterday. I do not know what overcame me that I used that tone of voice with you. I realize now that you were right in reprimanding me for staying out later at night, and that it is in my best interest that I abide by our family rules.
Please allow me to explain what happened that made me behave the way I did last night. My best friend Sandra was quite upset because of her parents’ impending divorce and needed me to be there for her. I got her talking about it so that she could get it off her chest and feel better and I have no idea where the time went. When I realized that it was past my curfew time, I rushed home as fast as I could.
The confrontation between us last night is not reflective of my lack of love or respect for you. I hope you understand this and do not hold it against me. I promise to be more careful in the future and not hurt you as I did last night.
Love,
Mandy