One problem with having my children go to camp is that they expect me to write letters. I don�t mind writing journal entries and I don�t mind writing briefs but I run into difficulty when I have to write letters. Everything I write either sounds boring and stupid or preachy. Why is it that one short postcard from Dad is wonderful but when Mom writes at least three or four times a week it�s not enough?

What do you say to a kid who is away at camp? When only one child is at camp, I�m always afraid to suggest to her that the child at home is having fun. A sister is not allowed to have fun at home when the other sister is away. I�m sure it�s THE LAW. If I squeal, I not only have to have endured the home-sister�s fun, I also have to hear about how the away-sister missed out on all the fun.

It�s even worse when I try to write as a Mom. Who wants to be at camp eagerly awaiting a letter, finally get one, and then open it and find the lecture, especially since the lecture probably relates to something that happened days ago (even if it is likely to recur). On the other hand, such letters usually cure homesickness quickly. Perhaps I should suggest them to Kitchenlogic, who is dealing with a homesick child at camp. (Never mind, I just did. I have the dawdles today.) But there�s no point in writing lectures to my children. They don�t seem prone to homesickness and I have no reason to believe they�d read a lecture more attentively than they listen to one.

It�s when I go to write letters that I realize how little of my day is interesting to my children. Occasionally, I realize how little of my day was interesting to me. My kids don�t want to hear about the brief I am writing or the client who called, unless something funny happened. They probably want to hear about it if I did something stupid. Nothing amuses them more than my stupidity. I�m just not sure I want to tell them about my stupidity (although I do when I�m really desperate).

Some people write wonderful letters. My dad used to write wonderful letters to me until he discovered the joys of e-mail. But me, I just don�t have the write stuff.

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