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Q: My children miss the time spent with friends and family and it’s difficult to schedule playdates.

From Mrs. Pizzo's Workshop

A: Make old traditions new again.

When I think of the beloved show, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood from the Fred Rogers Company, I'm reminded of the simple pleasures in life including using traditional methods to connect with friends. These can include writing letters. Select a day each week that your children will mail a letter or two to family anf friends. Perhaps a cousin, a grandparent or a teammate.

Remind them to collect ideas of what they thought was funny, interesting or memorable to discuss in the letter before writing. Also suggest they ask several questions in the letter to encourage a return response.

They can even start a story chain.

Using make-believe to create a story with characters and exciting events. Just make sure to include a riveting cliffhanger for the recipient to resolve and continue. The stories can be developed in the form of a comic strip, poems, or song lyrics.

Help them make it as interesting as possible to maintain the correspondence.

Mrs. Pizzo

visit Mrs. Pizzo's Workshop

Robin Pizzo leads the education outreach efforts of WKAR Public Media at Michigan State University, the PBS and NPR affiliate serving Michigan's capital region. Robin convenes partnerships and coordinates station initiatives such as WKAR Family and Ready to Learn to bring workshops, learning tools, and other resources into the community to help kids be resilient, lifelong learners.
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