Preschool Pen Pals

My 5-year-old daughter has a pen pal. Iris and Malaya met one summer in Maine when they were both three. They hit it off instantly! We had play dates all summer and rainy days spent indoors. When we headed home to California, the girls hugged each other and promised to stay friends.

It began with us, Moms, writing what our daughters wanted to say to each other. The girls decorated the notes with stickers and drawings. After a few exchanges, the girls started signing their own names at the bottom of the letters. Now, my preschooler writes full letters to her friend, asking for my help to spell out the words she wants to say.

There is so much excitement when we get a letter in the mail. I let her open her own letter, and together we sit as I read it to her. Sometimes she immediately wants to write her friend back. Other times she just sets it aside and goes off playing with something else. Some mornings when she thinks of something she wants to say to her friend, she recruits me to help her write a letter.

Having a pen pal has given my daughter so much enthusiasm and inspiration to read, write and express herself on paper. She loves the whole process: writing a letter, decorating it with stickers and drawings, folding it into the envelope and putting the sticker-stamp on the top right corner. I even let her write her name on the top left corner, and her friend's name on the center of the envelope. As a favor to the postal worker, I write the addresses. A trip to the post office where my daughter puts her letter into the mail box completes the process.

Iris and Malaya only see each other in the summer when we visit Maine. But the two share such a special friendship as pen pals. I imagine their letters becoming more and more interesting as they learn about the world they are living in. Someday I know I won't be in the loop anymore, as my daughter learns to read and write letters on her own. Until then I am happily helping her keep in touch.

Labels: life, parenting

7 Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolution

So you've made a New Year's Resolution and are feeling very positive about the first work week of the year. Horray! Good for you. Any bets you'll keep at it until the end of 2010?

A friend of mine mentioned she hasn't been going to the gym this past week because it is jam packed. She said she probably won't be going there until February when the "New Year's Resolution-ers" are gone. I thought it was unfortunate that most people hit a running start toward their goals at the beginning of the year and then lose interest as the rest of the calendar unfolds.

The New Year's Resolution is an exciting concept, a time each year to take stock of our past and make plans for the future. But it's one thing to make resolutions, it's another to keep them the rest of the year. I thought I'd share some ideas I've picked up here and there on the subject:

7 Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolution

1. Make a resolution that is active and specific. For instance, instead of saying, "I will be healthier this year," say, "I will eat healthy organic food, get at least 8 hours of sleep every night and exercise for 6 hours every week." The latter statement already sounds like a plan, whereas the first statement lingers in the wishful thinking stage. If your resolution involves not doing something, such as quitting cigarettes, find a way to replace it with something active, such as “Every time I have the urge to smoke a cigarette, I will practice playing my flute instead.”

2. Break them down into smaller goals by month. Big goals tend to be intimidating while smaller goals with a shorter time span are more achievable. If you're planning on losing weight, for instance, don't just resolve to lose weight this year. Write your weight goals by month. Say, I will lose 2 pounds by the end of January, another 2 by the end of February, and so on.

Nintendo Wii Fit is a great tool for setting weight goals within a short time span. The Wii Balance Board acts as a weighing scale so you can keep track of your progress. Think of Wii Fit as your fitness diary. It will automatically log the time you spent exercising on it, but you can also document the amount of time you spent doing fitness activities outside the home.

3. Schedule events throughout the year. Think ahead. What events can you plan in advance toward the fulfillment of your goals? Write it in your brand new 2010 calendar!

For instance, taking herbal cleanses requires time between them. As owner/manager of NaturalHealthSupply.com I have had customers ask me in January if they can take all four of our herbal cleanses at once, as if they're playing beat the clock, trying to get it all accomplished before their enthusiasm wanes. Our bodies don't work that way. We need time to detoxify and heal after an herbal cleanse.

Spread out events throughout the year and take the time to rest in between them.

4. Do something every day toward the fulfillment of your dream. Break your monthly goals down even further into small daily tasks. If you can do one thing each day that moves you one step forward, that's 365 steps ahead. Every morning ask yourself what you can do to move you one step closer to your goal. Then do it.

5. Find a resolution buddy you can be accountable to. Share your goals with a close friend and give each other permission to nudge, bug, or harass one another (hopefully it won't ever get to that point) into working on your resolutions. There will be times mid-year when things get tough and being sluggish becomes the easier choice. That's when you will need a true friend to remind you of the person you want to be.

6. Reward yourself periodically throughout the year. If you've set monthly goals as I suggested above, give yourself small rewards at the end of each month. At the end of the year you can enjoy that extra special reward when you look at yourself in the mirror.

7. Share your rewards with your resolution buddy. It's no fun celebrating alone. And your friend will have more incentive to keep you motivated if you get to party together.

Happy talk, keep talkin' happy talk,
Talk about things you'd like to do.
You got to have a dream,
If you don't have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?

- Bloody Mary, South Pacific
Rodgers & Hammerstein

Labels: life

Preschool Pen Pals

7 Tips for Keeping Your New Year's Resolution

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