If you’re lucky, a family holiday that closes out the year could be the start of something new and brilliant. If your children have been mixing with kids their own age at the beach, or a resort you’ve been staying in, chances are they’ll want to keep in touch if their bond is strong enough.
Our kids still have friends that they made years ago when we had holidays in Sydney.
Of course, friendship is always a good thing. The chance to have a pen pal can really enrich lives, a correspondence that can truly influence the participants to build positive relationships with others their own age.
Consequently, here are a few reasons as to why you should consider encouraging your kids to keep contact with their peers after the holiday is over.
It’s Easy
The thought of your child maintaining contact with someone who’s potentially overseas can seem like it’s more trouble than it’s worth. The prospect of sending out letters so far might seem like an expensive, time consuming event, but it needn’t be. If you use the right services and have the right amount of know-how, the entire thing is rather easy.
For example, postage to France is easily achievable with the right courier company, and is priced depending on the weight of items. If you’re sending off a letter or a small gift, all the deliveries that you and your child make will be next to effortless and entirely affordable. France is a lovely family friendly destination.
It’s a good lesson for your children too; they’ll feel less isolated and lonely, and perhaps feel more independent if they can make friends dotted all over the world. Perhaps they’ll receive gifts from aboard for their birthdays when their school chums fail to provide any? They’ll always have someone to chat too, and never feel inclined to suffer in silence if it’s really so easy!
Learning About Others
Meeting new friends on holiday means that, potentially, they could be from a far away place. Perhaps they speak another language, subscribe to a different religion, or are part of another culture. In the end, these are all great things when it comes to friendships; it means your child can adopt a more worldly view, and perhaps become more tolerant of others as a result.
Of course, there’s also the chance that your child may just become a more well-rounded person because of this interaction. It’ll develop their social skills, and as they get older, they may be more inclined to interact with strangers and build positive relationships, instead of shying away. Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with being shy, but the chance to have a few friends from far away can provide some great learning curves for them and really open them up the world that little bit more.
Developing Skills
Aside from the fact that your kids are learning to interact with others and facilitate positive relationships, the chance to frequently write letters is a great opportunity to develop their literacy skills. Every letter will help them develop their vocabulary, refine their handwriting skills, and their reading abilities from the replies that they receive.
It might seem like a small thing, but literacy skills are enormously important. If your child struggles with English at school, it might be that a pen pal might just help them understand the value in reading and writing; communication. After all, many schools strike up their own pen pal schemes with neighbouring schools, so if it’s good enough for them it should be good enough for you too!