The Art of Letter Writing by Thiyagarajakumar Ramaswamy

How To Teach Your Children 

After so many years i start writing a letter to my dear ones  . Iam a good writer earlier. Now iam not able to write continuously. It seems that letter writing has gone out of style? I am amazingly adept at using the computer, surfing the Internet, and communicating with friends via email and text messaging, but may be we are losing something important in all this easy reliance on electronic communications.

It is important for children to also learn the art of letter writing, or communicating through handwritten notes. A thank-you card in response to a gift or written letter to a favorite relative can be more appropriate, and much more appreciated, than sending a quick email or text message. Teaching children how to write a short letter or thank-you note to doting relatives will give them a valuable skill they can use throughout their lives.

     Introduce letter writing early even before your children learn to read and write, then can dictate a thank-you note for a birthday,festival or celebration gift.Give them the opportunity to choose a picture of themselves to include the letter, and then have them seal the envelope and apply the stamp and a return address sticker.

       As your children begin to read and write, help them choose a collection of colorful stationery: preprinted thank-you notes, birthday and holiday cards, postcards, and letter writing paper with matching envelopes are great incentives. You may also want to supply them with a variety of colorful postage stamps

          Encourage them to take charge of their letter writing.Supply them with an address book-a big one with plenty of room to write is good for small hands. If you can't find an appropriate Address book,help them make one using a three-ring binder and blank paper. Help them make a birthday and holiday card list of their friends and relatives, and then keep track of special days to make sure they send cards and letters in time.

                       Teach your children the specific demands of proper letter writing. Have them get into the habit of using return addresses and dates at the top of their letters ("So your grandma can write you back" and "So your aunt will know when you wrote the letter"). It's also a good idea for them to make a copy of their note or letter before they send it; it's easy enough if you have a combination printer/ scanner/ photocopier for your computer, and they'll be able to refer back to their letter if and when they receive a reply.

     

     

                    Encourage your family members, who are probably also in the bait of emailing or text messaging, to write letters back to your children.( A Gift of stationery and postage stamps might help them a nudge)     

             Help your children preserve the results of their letter writing efforts. Provide a decorative  file or box for your children to keep copies of their own letters and any mail they receive. Years in the future, they will have a personal history of events and connections in their lives, well documented by their childhood correspondence.

           Your children will reap future rewards from their new habit of writing letters and thank-you notes. Writing a thank-you to a classmate for a birthday present can translate into a thank-you to a prospective employer for a job interview a dozen years from now. As they learn letter-writing etiquette, they also learn good manners and consideration of other people, and those character traits can only benefit your children as they become responsible, caring adults.

·         Be sure to model letter writing by using written correspondence yourself. If you are writing to someone your children know, ask them if they want to send along a message themselves.

               Use your own and your children's correspondence to develop your family history. Your children might find it interesting to hear what their grandparents and other adults in their lives experienced at the same age. By asking questions of family members in their letters. they will receive a wealth of information in return-information they may not appreciate now, but that will end of meaning a lot to them twenty years from now.

       You rush all day and you are supposed to have already published your manuscript that is sitting stacked on your desk. How can you make time to write when you barely have time to breathe?

         1.  The way to find time to write is to write all day-literally. With 

                           a pen and paper in your purse, briefcase or at your desk at 

                           work,you have all you need.

        2. When an idea comes to mind,jot it down. Write notes, collect 

            quotes,write your thoughts and feelings. Do this all throughout    

            the  day, Monday thru Friday

3. On Saturday or Sunday ( or a day when you have extra time) transpose all of your notes throughout the week to a full document ( either on a computer or in a note pad)

4. All of your efforts will add up.You will also find that a note you 

    wrote on Tuesday will spark another idea, perhaps and entire 

    page of ideas.Keep doing this everyday

     5. After a year( if you write a page a day) you'll have enough 

        pages to create publishable manuscript!

      If you can't write throughout the day for whatever reason, write right·before you go to be in a journal. 

     Don't put off writing even one day.If you pass one day, it will be easy to pass another and an entire week of writing,