Contact with Your Boarder: Frequency and Method

SevenDad
Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:59:59 +0000

I sort of took my daughter to task after her first year at BS ended for not being good about communication on a few fronts.

First, with my wife, her younger sister, and me. In the beginning (when new to BS parents are the most hungry for news on “how it’s going”), we could go 2-3 weeks without hearing a peep from the kid! Emails would go unreturned…even ones that were about admin/logistics like “Did you get the package we sent?” And nary a letter. I eventually realized that that FB could be a good channel to get in touch with her if we needed to. And she did get better about calling home semi-regularly as the year went on. But not great. And I’m not expecting anything more than a call once a week.

Second, I fear she didn’t send enough thank you notes/replies to the friends and family who either sent her care packages or letters over the year. In terms of keeping up relationships, she needs to learn that correspondence begets/begs correspondence. This is just a good habit that I want her to get into as it will serve her well for the rest of her life.

The funny thing is that her younger sister is at a two week camp right now and has written letters to the three of us as well as both sets of grandparents! Odd that two kids from the same parents can be so different…

This year, I think we’re going to try to set aside a day of the week to try to chat. Keep in mind that at SAS, there is no internet in the dorm rooms and cell phones are not permitted in public spaces.