I confess, I have stooped to my kids’ level–or to hear them describe it, they might say that I have RISEN to their level. I actually use e-mail and instant messaging (I haven’t mastered “texting”) to communicate and stay in touch with my teenagers.
There is something completely un-charged about e-mail. I think that I communicate differently with my kids in writing and we show different sides of ourselves in our written notes that we do when we are face to face. As a matter of fact, during some of the snarkiest phases, talking face to face has been downright painfully difficult–and instant messaging and e-mail letters have saved us!
When my kids spend time at their dad’s house–we do talk on the phone, but they are busy teenagers. I can send them e-mails with chatty information, or I also like to forward articles and links too–just as a fun way of saying “I’m thinking about you.” But, I still send e-mail notes when they are with me too. Since I know they check their e-mail when they are at school or someone else’s house–I know this is a way I can share non-urgent information that I might forget by the time I see them again. And, according to one of my daughters, they feel like they have some control over our communication–they don’t have to read and respond if they don’t want to (or they can read, but not respond)!
As much as I really miss paper letters, folded carefully and mailed off in an envelope–I do appreciate e-mail and instant messaging and other modern modes of communication–for one thing, it makes it possible for me to stay in contact with my kids even when they are out and about doing typical teenager things. And my kids do get to see a different side of me that comes out in my written communication–as one of my kids said recently, “Your perfect grammar and complete sentences crack me up, Mom–who does that?”
See Also: Problem Solving Through Writing