Help me adult like it's 1950?

December 6, 2018 7:08 PM

Letter-writers of mefi: how do I write a good postcard for a five-year-old, especially if I don't know them all that well?

I have a whole bunch of cute postcards, and a five-year-old cousin who loves getting mail, which is perfect, right? The only problem is, every time I sit down to write one I have zero idea what to write about. Can you help?

I don't know her super well - I've met her three times in her life, most recently for one day about six months ago - and we got along great but at her age it's basically like I'm meeting her all over again each time I see her. Which is, I guess, one good reason to keep up this sort of contact! But it also means I don't know that much about her day-to-day life (and her, mine) aside from things I explicitly ask her parents about.

How do I write letters? I would welcome even example scripts - I'm totally lost here on how to write without feeling like a creepy stranger, ack.

posted by mosst to Writing & Language (19 answers total)

Postcards aren't long enough for letters. Two or three sentence personal anecdote aimed at a kid (I got to go on a balloon ride, pet a cat, ate a bear) and then maybe a "next time I see you we can go eat something crazy too!" (and follow through)
posted by noloveforned at 7:19 PM on December 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

I’ve been writing postcards to my nephews since they were teeny. For the first one, introduce yourself and how you’re related and tell her how much of a good time you had when you met last. Then say you’ll be sending more cards because you like sharing things with her.

Then let whatever is on the front of the postcard be a cue.

“Hi child! I saw this card with a puppy on it and wanted to tell you about my friend’s dog Rowlf...”

“Hi child! Have you ever seen a snowy day like what’s on the front of this card? When I was young it snowed so hard one time that school was closed for a week...”

Most importantly, have fun with it.
posted by kimberussell at 7:21 PM on December 6, 2018 [14 favorites]

Keep it simple. Tell her about a cool thing you saw that day and ask her follow up questions. It doesn't have to have narrative grandeur. Books aimed at 5 year olds are largely descriptive and observational, your postcards can be, too.

Example:

Dear Nugget,

I'm so glad I get to write to my cousin and tell you about my day! Today I saw a BIG DOG. I think it's the biggest dog I've ever seen. It has white fur and is really fluffy and looks like a polar bear. Sometimes big dogs are scary but this one is nice and really cute. I asked and the owner said its name is Hernando. Do you like dogs? What's the biggest dog you've ever seen? Was it a scary dog or a friendly dog?

Love, mosst
posted by phunniemee at 7:22 PM on December 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

Jokes.

Interesting facts about things she might be into or nature. Blank is the smallest bird and Blank is the largest.

You could ask her things like favorite color and favorite animal. Encourage her to write you back.

There isn't a lot of room on a postcard.
posted by beccaj at 7:22 PM on December 6, 2018

Postcards are great because by the time you write the size of picture book font, you've only really got 3 sentences.
(1) Something about today (where I went, or what I did, or what the weather was) (2) I saw a [noun] with [color] [accessory] and I thought about you and your [one of those words]. (3) I love you lots!
Example:

Dear niece,
Thursday I went to the library. I saw a sailboat with yellow sails and I thought about you and your yellow dress. I love you lots!
love,
Auntie Aimedwander
posted by aimedwander at 7:23 PM on December 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Soon she’ll start learning to read. Send her short missives she can work on reading herself.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:27 PM on December 6, 2018

I write several cards like this a day as I have two dozen junior pen pals, the children of friends and family. I sometimes write a relevant fact or two about the subject on the card. Other times I relate in a sentence or two something I've recently done. I frequently end with a question, because that gives my pals something to answer if they feel inclined, or to talk about with their family if they don't.
posted by jocelmeow at 7:28 PM on December 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

My grandma used to send me postcards when I was about 5. Her style was the non sequitur. One had some chimps on it and all she wrote was "Aren't monkeys funny?" I loved it then. I love it now.
posted by prewar lemonade at 7:28 PM on December 6, 2018 [17 favorites]

Yep, my dad used to send me postcards all the time when he'd travel. Postcards were and continue to be a big part of my life. Really you have so little space. Concentrate on making a small connection whether it's telling a joke, referring to the picture, or just saying "This made me think of you" or telling them a fact they might not know. Choose cool stamps if at all possible.
posted by jessamyn at 7:32 PM on December 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I like to send riddles to people on a series of two postcards. Most of them come from kids joke books. That might work. Just send the answer/punch line a few days after the question/setup.
posted by kendrak at 7:55 PM on December 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

You can also draw silly doodles instead of writing long messages. Like, "Hi Kid! Do you like robots? I drew one for you."
posted by kendrak at 7:56 PM on December 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

If she's anything like 5-year old me you could just about put your shopping list on there and it would be thrilling. I rarely got mail *just* for me when I was a kid and when I did it was wonderful.

I love the idea of putting in a fact related to the front of the card, because to me that seems like a really easy way to write a card that will also be of interest to the recipient.
posted by bunderful at 7:58 PM on December 6, 2018

Also, since I write to these kids each week throughout the year, I write about seasonal changes including foods, domestic and international holidays, commemorative months, and occasionally ask them about activities they are probably up to based on the time of year. Sometimes I am able to choose cards specific to those subjects.

The youngest kids get mostly animal art cards (there are lots of interesting ones on AliExpress). The primary grades kids and up sometimes get some history or science cards. The teenagers who have an interest in it get some famous art. I'm currently finishing up a book of classic car cards for a budding gearhead. Shaped and glow-in-the-dark-ink cards have proved especially popular with all ages.
posted by jocelmeow at 7:59 PM on December 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Whatever you write, re-enact it at the bottom with stick figure drawings! I still love postcards with stick figure people and dogs and flowers and trees and cows and mountains. One halloween I got a card with the sender and her dog drawn as stick figure ghosts!
posted by mochapickle at 8:20 PM on December 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Jokes are great. I always send them to my kids at camp and they love them.
posted by gryphonlover at 8:30 PM on December 6, 2018

My grandma sent me a postcard when I was eight or nine that had a picture of some cliffs near where we lived and she wrote about how the white color of the cliffs derived from the shells of animals that died a long time ago. When I found it again as an adult I thought it was a fantastic model for the genre of "letters to kids." There's so much they don't know, and everything is so interesting.
posted by eirias at 4:15 AM on December 7, 2018

Another fun thing is you can make your own postcards - just print out pictures, put the stamp and address on the back on the right side, a note on the left side, and the post office will treat them just like a store-bought postcard. So, rather than sending generic pictures of your city or some bird, you can send pictures of your house or your birdfeeder. It makes it more personal and easier to think of a note on the back. (Obviously don't do anything too personal since anyone could read the card while in transit - no pictures of your bank account number). ;)
posted by sdrawkcaSSAb at 6:10 AM on December 7, 2018

I love skiing this! I really just write whatever's on my mind (I had a great piece of chocolate cake yesterday) but In clear, kid- friendly printing. Have fun!
posted by 8603 at 8:38 AM on December 7, 2018

I would think about including drawings or rebuses. You will want to write clearly which for most people tends to be larger than usual, so you won't have a lot of space. It doesn't have to make a huge amount of connected sense either. So you could write, Dear Cousin Mosst, I have just eaten [draw a cake]. Do you like cake? The weather here is [draw a sun]. etc ...

You could also post her a stamped, addressed postcard to write back to you - even if it's just a word or two or a drawing.

I also like the idea of sending a fact, or a Today I Learnt.

Also, stickers.
posted by paduasoy at 2:26 PM on December 7, 2018