My daughter loves getting mail.
Not email, snail mail.
She’s seven years old and doesn’t own a Smartphone, computer or any other digital device which allows her to email her BFFs to LOL about her WAHM.
She does it via longhand, instead.
While I dread the short walk from the front door to the mailbox for fear of what other bill may be waiting for me there, my kid counts down to the mail carrier’s visit each day.
We’re old school here at Casa Cheplic and the United States Postal Service loves us for it.
Why?
Two words: Pen Pal.
I’d love to say that we are single-handedly bringing back the pen pal craze, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. Rather, we are very fortunate to have met a homeschool mom who introduced us to the Student Letter Exchange.
The legendary pen pal program dates back to 1936. It is currently the largest organized student letter exchange in the world with more than a half million participants.
Pen pal; when was the last time you saw those two words palling around together?
For most parents it’s been 15, 20, even 25 years since they were introduced to the magic of mail. In the majority of cases, pen pal friendships were sparked in school by teachers who wanted to stimulate learning via writing.
It’s been more than 20 years since I received my first pen pal letter. I was in the second grade and my teacher handed me a note from a girl named Lena who lived in Guam. The letter contained just a few sentences, most of which were questions asking me about my favorite color and whether or not I liked swimming and ice cream.
Lena and I exchanged letters until the end of fifth grade. To this day I often wonder what happened to her.
I might know if I was on Facebook, but I digress.
My daughter has not one, but four pen pals thanks to the Student Letter Exchange. The program is an international friendship maker linking more than 500,000 students in 100 countries throughout the world, many of whom have stayed in continuous correspondence with each other well into their adult life.
With the new school year rapidly approaching, now may be the perfect time to introduce your child to a new friend via snail mail. Not only is pen pal communication a fabulous way to meet new people and learn about different cultures, it is also a unique opportunity for your child to practice his penmanship, spelling and writing skills. What’s more, he may even be able to learn a foreign language or start a stamp collection.
If nothing else, the relationship will have him begging you to get the mail each day, so you don’t have to make the dreaded walk to the end of the driveway.
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