I did something yesterday for the first time in ages. Something that I used to do on a very regular basis. Something i used to enjoy doing. I wrote a letter! Yes, I actually put pen to paper and wrote on a piece of paper! I am so use to typing letters, sending emails and text messages that it felt really weird penning a letter! Infact my handwriting, which I always thought was very neat and tidy, looked kind of scrawly like I had not written for a while.
It appears I am not alone in this lack of letter writing practice. On last night’s The One Show, the actress Hayley Mills was on saying how she is supporting a campaign to get children to write letters. Apparently according to a recent survey of 1800 children aged between 7 and 14, only 5% of them have ever actually put pen to paper and composed a letter. I think that is such a shame, and just proves that in a world filled with mobile phones and pc’s the art of writing to people has died out.
When I was a child, I used to have penpals – I wrote to a girl in the Cook islands for several years (granted, I have now lost touch). When I moved to Devon aged 12 I wrote to my best friend that I left behind in Berkshire (we are still in touch even if it is now via FB!). I would always write thank you letters and write to my grandparents at least 4 times a year. Do youngsters write love letters anymore? I use to write to my ex boyfriends and would love to receive a letter from my boyfriend at the time, declaring his love for me !!
Even now I still write thank you letters but I must admit they tend to be typed! But I feel the difference is that I know how to write a letter – be it business or personal and I was taught how to do this at school ( is this exercise still carried out for today’s children?). However, sadly it appears that a lot of children today do not know what it is like to send or possible even receive a handwritten letter.
I really hope Burton will learn the art of letter writing when he is older, and he will certainly be encouraged to write thank you letters if nothing else. I support Hayley Mills in trying to get children to have penpals and to write to each other instead of text, msn, email, facebook etc… and I hope she succeeds. However, sadly something tells me that in a world full of such technological methods of communication, which do not require needing to visit a letter box, and enables children to get an instant reply, letter writing will not become popular or catch on 🙁
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Thank you xx
Thank you xx
Lovely post! My Grandma and I write letters to each other about once I month. I know she loves receiving them. She is the only person I write to now though. Everyone else gets an e-mail which is not quite the same. I agree that letter writing should be encouraged in children. Good luck doing that with Burton when he’s a bit older and thank you for highlighting an important issue.
Grerat post, thankfully G really enjoys writing at the moment heres hoping it carries on. Think I might look into getting him a pen pal though I had one as a child also and it was great!
Yep, they are taught how to write letters, although they are of the formal style, e.g. a persuasive letter putting forward their thoughts (in Year Six). They aren’t taught informal letters because it’s not in the National Curriculum. Rulebooks!
I had penfriends too, I used to be a member of that international penpal service which would match up people all over the world. I had one in Australia and Sandrine in France. We wrote for several years. I wonder what happened to them?
I’ve started writing thank you letters on behalf of The Boy for presents, and when he’s old enough he’ll write them himself.
Great post, thanks for linking up to ShowOff ShowCase!
I love a letter – post is my absolute thing. I wait for the post to come with excitement everyday! If you wanted to make my day post me a letter! I think it is a time old tradition that is going, and I really support the writing of thank you cards. I think little ones get so much these days, that it is good to get them to thank and acknowledge how lucky they are! I always remember having to write thank you’s as a girll and moaning to Mum about it…and her saying that I could write less if I had less presents, it was my call! Well obviously I was for the presents….especially if they were posted! x
This is a complaint me and Hubby have had with today’s methods of schooling. On the one hand they tell us our son’s writing isn’t as good as it should be and on the other, they encourage him to do all of his homework and projects on the computer. We’re mean parents, we make him do writing all the time at home and in the school holidays we encourage him to write a daily diary just to keep practicing his writing. Its a dying practice, not good!