UPDATE: I neglected to put a time-frame on this earlier. I think I’ll let signups go a couple of weeks to give you enough time to talk to your kids (grand-kids, nieces/nephews, etc). Plus, I’m hoping it will work out for my daughter’s classmates to get in too, but that means we need some boys to include them, so sign up your boys too!

So I’ll let you know by email in a few weeks who your pen pal is.

I also added a field to the form for comments so you can tell a little bit about your pen pal and I can better pair you up. I’ll try to pair based on distance and cultural differences first and then by interests.

Last week was the first full week of school for the kids and it’s great to be back to a routine. But at one point last week AJ mentioned the teacher saying something about not teaching cursive anymore. I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but it got me thinking about the state of education today and how much focus is put on computers and technology. I watch my younger siblings in high school, heads buried in their phones when we come to visit, and I shudder to think my girls could end up living in front of a screen too. And what kind of example am I setting for them myself!

So I suggested we look into finding AJ a pen pal. When I explained a little about my experience with one at her age she was SO EXCITED! So I sat down Friday night and put out an email to my 850+ newsletter list calling for a few people to volunteer their daughter(s) to write to AJ. The response was incredible, so I thought it best to gather them all together and do something a bit more official.

The benefits of a pen pal relationship

I made a list of benefits for AJ, to see what she can get from this:

• learn about a new state or country
• learn about her own as she teaches a pen pal about it
• a friend to reach out to when friends here are being particularly mean
• discipline in keeping up a long distance relationship
• learn a bit about letter writing and the postal system
• collect stamps from abroad
• develop an early appreciation for all things paper!
• possibly learn a new language (with the help of a translating tool)
• and improved handwriting and vocabulary

Calling all kids of writing age

If you have a child of writing age who would like to have a pen pal - and can commit to keeping up a relationship for at least a year or two, possibly for the rest of their life - I would love to set you up with someone. I received responses from different ages from 6 on up to 17, so any age is fine and I’ll try to pair you with someone a year or two apart. Boys are welcome too, but I’ll only pair girls with girls and boys with boys unless you say otherwise. I’m also going to open this up to AJ’s classmates so we should get a good turnout, especially with some of my overseas customers and friends!

So I’m calling it “The Great Pen Pal Revival” because it’s a goofy title, and also it’s time to revive the pen + paper relationship, especially for our kids. Please join me!