Writing Is Magic!
Writing is magic; it says you thought about your kids while you were not with them. It is there in black and white and they cannot deny it. If you wrote to them and they were not with you at the time, you had to be thinking of them while you were not with them!
Write notes and put them in their lunch box.
Written Words Say, "This Is Significant!"
Write notes and letters and put them in their clothing drawers to be discovered at unexpected times.
Write notes on bathroom mirrors in lipstick! Make picture albums and write captions under and around the pictures. In doing that, you will direct their memories of past events; often helping them to see significance they might otherwise have missed.
Letters Say, "This is Important and Formal!"
Write letters to your children and mail those letters to them. Let them go to the mailbox and find a letter from Dad that has a postmark on it. The postmark is proof that you have gone to the trouble of going to the post office to send the letter to them. Sure they live in your house, but a letter says that this is unusual and important. It will get their attention in a way that some little talk in the kitchen simply won’t! By the manner of its’ delivery, a letter says, “This is important and it is something that I want you to know. I want you to know this with some formality.”
Writing Ensures Careful Wording!
And when you write, you can word your thoughts and ideas very carefully and precisely before it "gets all over the kids". I know that everyone has had the experience of saying something at a time of heated emotions that you didn’t really mean. Writing prevents that mistake from happening; when you write, it is possible to write it over and over until you get it just right. One of the most loving things that a parent can do for their children is to write exactly what they believe about honesty, integrity, compassion, courage, spirituality, love, family, etc. As an act of love, writing does not have to be "gushy stuff." Write to them about exactly what you believe about critical issues. Write to them about your beliefs about honesty. Write down your precise spiritual beliefs. Write to your children about your beliefs about freedom, America, and Democracy. Write to your children about what your family means to you. Write down bits of wisdom about life that are important for your kids to have for making big decisions and give those writings to your kids on a regular basis.
Write Nicely and Very Precisely
You can even write poetry for your kids. I said this to a class of parents we were working with in Walla Walla one night and a big dad in the back of the room raised his hand and said, “That is fine for you Bledsoe, but I can’t write poetry! I quit school in the eighth grade and I am a welder for a living. I simply can’t write poetry!”
I thought for a second and decided to risk a little bit of personal information about myself with the man. “Sir,” I said, “the only class I was ever kicked out of in high school was English! I only took one class in English while in college. I do not have a degree in English… I just teach it!”
“However, sir, here is a little tip on writing poetry to your kids for you, if you are willing to accept it. Get a little notebook or folded piece of paper and put it in your pocket along with a pen or pencil. Then go on down to the Hallmark Card Shop. Their cards are even categorized for the type of an occasion for you. Spend a little time there and read over some of the cards until you find one that sort of says what you want to say… then get out your pen and paper and copy it down!”
“You can do that?” he asked in a rather loud voice.
“Well, I don’t know if it is legal, but I have been down there a few times myself and I have never been arrested by The Plagiarism Police!”
“However, if you are worried about copyright law, just buy the card and give the author his due and go out into your old pickup and copy it down because I know what will happen to you. You will start writing the other person’s words and you will say ‘I wouldn’t say it quite like that’ and you will change it into words more to your liking. I also know that there is another thing that will happen to you. You will arrive at the end of the other fellow’s words and you will not feel like you are finished but now you kind of have a rhythm going and you will write another verse or two.”
“No author has ever had a totally original thought. Every author gets inspiration somewhere, take a risk and write nicely to fit special occasions."
Writing can open lines of communication between parents and children that might not happen in any other way. (Order my book today and get lots of other neat ideas about writing to your children.)
Tune in tomorrow for more on sending messages of love to your children.
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