Write them a letter
Apr 27th, 2008 | By Chuck | Category: Papa Prattle
When listening to the latest
Jumping Monkeys podcast last week the guests,
Rookie Moms, mentioned writing letters to your kids from infancy forward. When I heard this it hit me like a ton of bricks. Why hadn’t I thought of this before? The idea is a great one and the conversational tone in a letter is much different than the record one might keep in a blog post, unless the posts consist of said letters that is.
Of course I’m not actually going to put pen to paper. My scrawl in this age of email, twittering and texting is indecipherable. Does this bug you as much as it does me? I wouldn’t give up my keyboard for anything but I hate that I cannot write anymore. I can’t force myself to slow down enough for my writing to be legible. I’ve tried and just can’t get through more than one or two words before the scrawl persists.
In addition to D is for Dad I also own a family domain. I have email accounts there for myself, my wife and each of the older kids.
I plan on setting up email for the younger kids soon and using it to send them messages as the mood strikes. It would be nice if I’m able to write one letter a week. The reality will probably be more like one letter a month. When you own your own domain you could even set up different email addresses just for these letters, maybe letterstojoe@mydomain.com. Of course you could do this with google, yahoo or live accounts too, just make sure you have a backup.
This isn’t a new idea by any means. If you’re doing something like this what method are you using? Are you setting pen to paper? How are you backing up or storing the letters?
Imagine the information you could present to your kids ten or fifteen years from now. Interesting to consider.
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Yeah, when I write something on paper it looks like a gradeschooler scribbled it. I think this is a great idea, and would tend to lean towards electronic means myself.
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Thanks for commenting James. Electronic seems to make the most sense to me.
I love this idea! I’ve thought of my blog as a journal, but letters are much more personal.
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Hi Momo - Yeah, I thought so too. While I post a different variety of info on my family site it still isn’t conversational. I’m looking forward to starting this.
Hi Chuck. My handwriting has always been bad. The other thing about electronic correspondence is it’s a heck of a lot easier to save them. Paper writing gets lost, takes room to store, is easily destroyed by toddlers, dogs, water, inadvertant trips to the recycle bin… etc. Great idea!
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Hey Tom. Once upon a time I used to have pretty decent hand writing. This is why it bugs me so much because I still like the idea of pen to paper. The feel of it and all. I may have to work to re-train myself. I agree 100% on the storage issues around paper. Have yourself a good week!
I write letters to my kids in their baby books occasionally…just to write about who they are at this stage and what we’re discovering about them. That’s kind of fun, but I do it every couple of years rather than once a month as I probably should. Great post, Chuck. And yes, I have noticed that it’s Spring-like here in Michigan. FINALLY!! And it’s not even May yet. Does this mean I lose the wager???
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Well, nice to hear from you again! Thanks for chiming in. I thought about the baby book angle too…great minds. I don’t think you lose the wager. If I recall I was overly optimistic about the first day of Spring, which was anything but.
Dude,
I love it, I am on the puter all the time why not use it just like you said. Brilliant!
What’s up Joe! - That’s kinda what I was thinking.
Good stuff Chuck! My handwriting is horrible too. I did write a journal every day for 90 days shortly after Ty was born, but it was hard to keep it up. I look forward to sharing it with him later in life. I’m going to try to do it again for the new baby. Thanks for the reminder!
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My pleasure Jeremy. Glad you found the post comment worthy!
My handwriting SUCKS!!!! I couldn’t journal if I wanted to. I love the idea of the family domain and using it as an electronic scrapbook or journal of sorts. I’m just too unorganized to get one going.
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I can imagine you are a bit scattered - when I read your tweet about watching 3 time-out corners at once I just shook my head.
My 6 yr old son, Ry, is learning to print in school. When his teacher expressed concern to me about the size of the letters and neatness, I just had to laugh. I still can’t read my writing. I should have been a doctor with the way I scribble. But I did think to myself, is there any point to learning to print anymore? And if so, how long will it be necessary? Any way, I’m new to this blogging world, specifically writing about the experience of being a dad. I enjoyed your work. 4wrdthnkndad, Tom
What a fantastic idea, Chuck! I love it.
I’ve heard many people talk about things like letters to their kids or end of year summaries, but your idea really clicks with me. So glad I read this post.
Thanks!
I wrote each kid a letter every year on their birthdays, for about 5 years. And then I just stopped. I wish I hadn’t. I have the blog now, but I love going back and touching those letters, seeing where I was in life just by looking at my handwriting. Maybe I’ll just write a whole bunch of letters and throw them in there before the next birthdays roll around. They won’t know, will they?
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