The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010

Love Notes
Guidelines for the Activities

MY BARELY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD SON couldn’t go to bed one night until he wrote “I love you Mom” on a piece of paper. Pajamas on, red crayon in hand, he was doggedly determined. A few mixed-up letters, a couple of crumpled papers, and some help from Daddy later, he handed me his heart on the page. Then, finally, he relaxed enough to fall asleep.

Sometimes, saying how you feel just isn’t enough. Spoken words are invisible, untouchable, intangible. Write it down, however, and you can see it, feel it, hold, it, keep it. It’s indelible.

Although we may think it, we can’t really give someone our heart. But by writing, we can give someone our heart on a page. A love note is a piece of paper that is a little piece of your heart. Teach your child how to write love notes, and I promise you will have many, many happy returns.

MATERIALS

∗ paper

∗ writing tool of choice (a red crayon works great!)

HOW-TO

The best way to teach children to write a love note is by example. Write love notes to your children. Often. Put them in lunch boxes, slip them under doors, tape them onto the bathroom mirror, tuck them under your children’s pillows. Use a simple, predictable format that is easy for your children to imitate when it comes time for them to write back to you (personalize it according to your child, of course). Try something like the following, for starters.

Dearest ________,

I love you. You are so ________. I love it when we _______ together. You make me _______. I can’t wait to ________.

Hugs and kisses,

Variations

For Scribblers: Cut paper into heart shapes and leave it out for Scribblers to discover. When they present you a heart-shaped scribble, ooh and aah over their love note. They’ll instantly get the idea.

For Spellers: When my son first started to write, I wrote him a simple note that said “I love you Jack,” and I covered it with outer-space stickers. Not only has he kept it ever since, he used it as a model to create roughly a million “I love you Mom” notes. The return on my investment of one minute of time has been unbelievable. With Spellers, sometimes all you have to do is present a model. Then say no more.

For Storytellers: Send Storytellers an “I love you more than . . .” note and see what you get in response. For instance, I might say, “I love you more than a cup of hot tea, a bucket full of daisies, lobster rolls, little red wagons, sunsets, sour cream walnut muffins, cartwheels, and piggyback rides.” Then wait and see how you stack up.

For Scholars: As children get older, it is your challenge as a parent to be increasingly subtle in your written displays of affection while remaining relentlessly consistent. What strikes this perfect balance? The lunch box love note. This is your chance every day to show by example how to express feelings in writing. You may not get a written response, but believe me, you are nourishing your young writer with each note. When you show children how natural it is to write about what (and who) you love, you are planting the seeds that will grow into their own lifetime love of writing.