• One of the oldest ways to keep in touch is writing letters. You can write to your parent every night, or once a week, or just as often as you feel like it. Tell him /her everything exciting or interesting that happened that day. Even if your letter or note is just a couple of sentences long, your parent will be thrilled to get it.

• Send e-mail. If you and your parent both have computers, do you each have internet access? If not, suggest to your parents that it might be worth getting internet access for both computers. You can send each other e-mail that will be delivered almost the minute it is sent!

• Keep a journal. Instead of writing a letter every night (or many nights), you can write your reports of each day’s happenings in a small blank book or on loose-leaf pages. Once a week, send your parent the book or pages. The more details you give, the more your parent will enjoy it.

• Long-distance calls. It’s always nice to hear the voice of someone you love. Long-distance calls cost money, but if you keep them short, you can afford to call more often. You might just call once a week and talk longer. Or, you might want to write down a few things you’d like to mention to your parent beforehand so that you don’t forget them when you’re on the phone together.

• Tape your news. Maybe you prefer “talking your news” to writing it, but your parents can’t afford for you to make long-distance calls often. In that case, all you need is a tape recorder and a few cassette tapes. Turn on the tape recorder and say, “Today is Monday” (or whatever day it is). Then start telling your mom or dad all the interesting stuff that happened today.  You’ll probably just want to talk into the tape recorder as if you were talking to your parent. Or, you can be funny and pretend you’re a TV newscaster, reporting from your classroom or home.

• A picture is worth a thousand words. Get your mom, dad or friend to take pictures of you. Then send them to your out-of-town parent. Let Mom or Dad see pictures of you as you look now. Action pictures are good. They might show you swinging a bat, sharing a soda with a friend, or sitting at your desk in your bedroom.

• Pictures that move are even better. Get your mom, dad, or a friend or relative to take some pictures of you with a video camera. These are more expensive, so this isn’t an activity for every day or every week. But from time to time — or on special occasions — record yourself on a videotape and send it to your parent.

• Computers can send pictures almost instantly. Newer computers can connect to cameras that allow you to send pictures by e-mail. You can sit in front of the computer and your parent can see you at the same time, or later in a message you send.

Divorce Helpbook for Kids, The

Price: $13.95

« Back «